A ninja's life
by koolpatty5
Summary: Okay Naruto is twelve but he is more mature than the anime, though the story follows its normal path. Naruto will have to make friends and trust them if he wants to survive all the dangers and obstacles that wait for him if he wants to be the greatest Hok
1. Chapter 1

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Hi everybody, this is patty, and this is my first fanfic.**

**Sorry if my English is not that good.**

**Okay Naruto is twelve but he is more mature than in the anime/manga, but the story follows its normal path though. Naruto will have to make friends and trust them if he wants to survive all the dangers and obstacles that**** a****wait for him if he wants to be the greatest Hokage ever. But how will a certain indigo haired girl help him to carry his huge responsibility? NaruHina, other pairings inside.**

**Now with the story**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 1

**BIP BIP BIP BIP**

'_Damn'_Naruto though. He turned in his bed groggily and slowly opened his eyes.

**7: 30 A.M**

It was never easy for the blond to wake up early.

"Five more minutes" He mumbled to no one in particular as he reached for the clock and pushed the small bottom; the sound ceased at once. He accommodated on his bed and closed his blue eyes again.

A gust of wind made his curtains wave around. This made rays of sunlight enter the dark room, some of them hitting the whiskered blond right in the face. Naruto pressed his eyes even closer, trying to block the sunrays. He grunted and turned away from the window. A minute passed before he remembered his five-minute promise.

'_Damn' _He opened his eyes in shock, turning abruptly towards the black, digital clock. Naruto witnessed the numbers flashing angrily.

**8: 15 A.M**

'_Not again'_Naruto mentally cursed. Why was it so hard to get to class in time? He couldn't remember the last time he arrived before Iruka. Never mind that, he needed to get ready. Naruto threw his covers aside and got out of bed hastily. While he walked to the shower he slid off his shirt and sweatpants that were his pajamas. No time to wait for the hot water, the blond resolved, positioning himself directly under the freezing water. The blond let out a startling yelp as the liquid ran down his back.

Naruto hissed in pain as he stepped on a discarded kunai resting on the wooden floor. He dressed himself quickly, his golden hair still dripping water. Naruto wondered if he had time to eat some ramen before going to the Academy. _'What the heck.' _The blond stepped towards the kitchen cupboards. _'I'll be late anyways.' _

Ten minutes later the blond emerged from the run down building he lived in. It wasn't exactly what you could call a 'home', but it was all he had and he liked it. The Sandaime gave him this place because it was almost deserted, and it was the safest place he could offer Naruto if he didn't want to be attacked in his sleep or when he was leaving or entering his apartment.

Why did the villagers hated Naruto so much? The blond could only guess. Cold, accusing glares followed him everywhere he went.

They ought to stop that someday, Naruto resolved. They can't look at the Hokage like that. Naruto thought while he passed man that was giving him the first hateful glare of the day. _'I'd like to see you try giving me that look when I'm Hokage.' _

He decided to aim for the Hokage's office since that'd make everyone swallow their insults. Besides, he had already made the decision to be the best ninja in the whole village. They'd probably even start to respect him. He'd be lying if he said he wouldn't like that.

He sped through the streets, running into a bunch of people who were yelling at him or acting disgusted only for having had contact with him. Naruto did not really care what they were saying. Through years of not being heard or cared, he started feeling indifference at what people thought about him or the names they called him; _demon_ or _monster _were the most common.

'_I might be a brat sometimes, but I'm no demon.' _He'd like to say, but he knew they would ignore him. He was determined on being noticed. _'Some day you'll recognize me, you fools.'_

After ten minutes of jogging, he got to the Ninja Academy. He slowed to a walk and entered the building. The halls were empty, since class had started forty-five minutes ago. Naruto searched his brain for a good excuse… again. He stood staring at the classroom door for a few seconds, then sighed as he opened the door slowly. Every pair of eyes focused on him at that moment, the blond noticed. Here we go…

"Naruto! You're late for class!" Iruka's voice exploded. "Again!"

"Sorry Iruka-sensei" chanted the blond in a bored manner. This had become his routine every morning. He knew what Iruka would ask him then.

"What's your excuse?" the chuunin's voice was stern.

"You see, sensei I…" Naruto racked his brain for a good excuse. Finding nothing there he slumped his shoulders. _'Does it even matter? He's not gonna believe me anyways…' _

"Yes, Naruto?" proded his sensei. Why did he even bothered? He should just give him his sentence.

"I overslept" The blond responded finally, in a defeated tone. He was getting it again; that meant he would start his training later than usual. And that meant he would get to his house later, also. Man, he was not going to sleep at all tonight.

A throbbing vein could be seen under Iruka's headband.

"THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE, NARUTO. YOU ARE STAYING HERE AFTER CLASS AND SWEEP THE WHOLE CLASSROOM."

'_Great'_ the spiky haired boy thought to himself as Iruka said something about the importance of being responsible and blah, blah, blah. Finally he was permitted to go to his place. It could be worse, Naruto told himself. At least he didn't have to erase all the graffiti in the tables, most of them were of hearts and Sasuke. At this thought he turned to look at Sasuke. He was sitting in his place, his face facing the board. He didn't paid attention to the Uzumaki as he walk-past him. A few years before Naruto was jealous of the Uchiha because all the attention he got. _Good _attention, unlike the one he received (if he received any). At this point on his life he didn't care, it wasn't even his fault. He was born being an Uchiha and that attention was destined for him. He'd leave the last Uchiha alone, exactly how Sasuke wanted it. He was the kind of person that just wanted to be by his own.

As Naruto continued to walk to his empty chair, he could hear the other students snickering and laughing at him. The kids were the same as the villagers; they either avoided him and glared or spat insults. _'Whatever'_though Naruto, they weren't important.

When he sat down in his chair, he heard an almost inaudible voice coming besides him. "G-good m-morning, Na-Naruto-kun" Said a certain indigo haired girl.

"Morning Hinata" responded the blond haired boy with a small smile. From Naruto's point of view, Hinata was a very strange little girl; She didn't seem able to talk without stumbling all over what she said, and that blushed just confused him even more. He thought that someday she'd have a heart attack from all that nervousness. But he had nothing against her; she was always nice to him and helped him when he needed it. Still, he had a hard time coping with her timidness.

"How's it going?" asked Naruto with the smile still there.

"g-good, thank y-you" Said Hinata, her blush almost covering all her face.

Naruto nodded his head. _'At least she is not like the other villagers"_Naruto thought to himself. At that moment he could hear Sakura and Ino arguing about who would sacrifice more for Sasuke and stuff like that. Until recently, Naruto have had a crush in Sakura, he thought of her as the most beautiful kunoichi in the village. But whenever he talked to her or asked her out, she would insult or laugh at him, sometimes both. He also noticed that she was over obsessed with Sasuke, and finally he realized how annoying she could really be. Now Naruto thought that she was one of the most irritating girls that ever existed.

Iruka hushed them and continue to speak. The class followed as usual, Hinata paying attention and at moments glancing at Naruto timidly, Sasuke taking notes, Sakura and Ino staring at Sasuke, Iruka explaining the topic and Naruto falling asleep most of the explanation. After a while the bell rang and all the kids went to the rest area to eat their lunches. Naruto sat at his usual place, alone as always. After they finished, the bell rang again and the kids went to their respective classrooms. Everything continued the same, except with a few interruptions of Iruka shouting to Naruto to wake up and pay attention.

Naruto awoke when he heard the bell rang for third time. The students started collecting their stuff and Iruka was wishing everyone a good day. When Naruto was about to get out of the classroom, he heard Iruka's voice calling.

"Naruto… where do you think you're going?" demanded Iruka.

"Err… to the bathroom?" asked Naruto, hoping against hope to escape.

"That's not gonna work again" said Iruka. Naruto emitted a groan of defeat. Iruka handed him a broom. "Here you go" said Iruka with a smile on his face.

While Naruto was cleaning, Iruka asked him "Naruto, why are you always late?"

"Dunno." answered a bored Naruto.

"You always say that you want to be the best, why don't you try harder?" said Iruka in a calm voice.

'_I train my ass off every day, isn't that hard enough for you?'_ Naruto mentally answered. "I'll see, Iruka-sensei" Naruto said, trying to finish the conversation.

Iruka sighed. "If you keep going that way, you're going to have to repeat another year at the academy.

Naruto smiled. "That's not gonna happen. This year I will pass" The blond said confidently.

"Why's that?" asked Iruka concerned at this point.

Naruto kicked himself. He didn't want anyone to know he was performing an insane training. If Iruka-sensei discovered that, he would become worried and inform the old Hokage. They would forbid him to train that way again. He also wanted to surprise everyone with his strengthened abilities.

"Because I've been studying at my place, I think your explanations are boring, but I read books of what you've explained" Naruto was trying not to sound too nervous.

Iruka stared at him intensely, then a smile spread on his face. "Well Naruto, I am very proud that you're studying, I could have never imagine it" _'Me neither.' _The blond thought.

"But even if you think my classes are boring you still need to pay attention. It's your responsibility, remember that." said Iruka after a short pause.

Naruto could breathe again. "I will try to pay more attention to your classes, Iruka-sensei" Iruka nodded in approval. They didn't talk again until Naruto finished cleaning.

"I'm done, C'ya Iruka-sensie"

"All right, Naruto." The blond started towards the door but his homeroom teacher stopped him one last time. "You better be here on time tomorrow, boy, if you don't want to sweep the whole Academy."

Naruto groaned and exited the classroom. He ran towards his training spot.

The moon as high on Konoha's sky and Naruto was at the last exercise of his training session. He was panting heavily and he had all the right to be tired. After five laps around the whole village, two thousand pushups, two hours of weapon practice, two hours of taijutsu training, two hours of chakra control, and two hours of ninjutsu training. To top all that the Uzumaki wore ten pound weights while he trained.

He started using weights about a year ago. He got the idea from a weird guy with a bowl hair cut and very big eye brows. When he was doing one of his laps around the village he heard the man saying something about the weights to a kid he couldn't see very well because they were in a training ground surrounded by walls. He though he also could buy some weights and train with them. Now every six months he bought new ones weighting more and more.

The blond was facing the dark sky full with stars. He was panting and every muscle of his body was sore. His black t-shirt was soaked in sweat. _'Tomorrow I will have to buy the new ones'_He thought, looking at the weights in his wrist.

He stood up with a lot of effort, took his jacket and his weapons and headed home. When he got to his apartment he took three cups of instant ramen from his cupboard and started devouring them. He took a quick shower after that and headed to his old bed. He made sure to activate his alarm clock before closing his eyes and drifting to the land of dreams. One final thought crossed his young mind,

'_I need to buy more ramen'_

He slept soundly, not even the deep chuckle inside his mind disturbed him.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Hope you like my first chapter of the fic. There's more to come.**

**Read and Review please. I'd like to know you opinions on this story.**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**OK here's the second chap, sorry for the late upload… School's kept me busy.**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_characters thinking'_

**Now with the story**

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 2

"What the…"Naruto said mentally, he did a double take when he realized that his thought didn't sound like that at all. It came out on his usual voice.

"Where the hell am I?" He said/thought again. He noted how the words had an echo.

The young blond was standing in the middle of a dark room. He looked down at his shoes and frowned at the water covering them. He hoped it was water, since it was so dark he couldn't really make sure. The water level was enough to cover his ankles.

How had this happened? A second before he was about to jump in a steaming pool full of ramen noodles and now he was standing in this… how could he call it? A chamber maybe? Yeah, a big-ass chamber that was mostly covered by shadows, except for a red hue glowing out of a tremendous cage in front of him. It wasn't light, Naruto told himself. It was power. Pure, brute power… so big it materialized itself as a red, throbbing energy.  
How did he know? He had no idea, but his gut told him he was right.

"Erm… is someone in there" asked the boy, venturing forwards towards the large metal bars. He could see nothing inside. A big, dark rumble seemed to shake the whole room. Naruto felt it reverberating through his rib cage. It seemed more like a chuckle now that he heard it echo through the chamber. He found himself suddenly scared, that noise made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

There was something big inside the bars… big, powerful and most of all evil. Without a warning the room lit up a bit more, as a pair of gigantic eyes slapped open. Naruto yelped and stumbled backwards, falling ungraciously on his bum. The whiskered boy stared at the big, slitted eyes. Another chuckle (he was now sure it was a chuckle) and two rows of big white fangs came into existence, just below the glowing eyes. The twelve-year old would have fallen again in shock, if he had been standing.

"Wh-Who… _What_ are you?" Naruto found his voice, and it was trembling.

"**You know who and what I am."**The creature said with a deep, guttural voice. The blond could now see a big furry muzzle in between the eyes and teeth, and could make out the shape of two titanic paws with sharp claws on them. Yes… Naruto knew.

"A fox… _The_fox." The blond corrected, too scared to be bothered by the watery substance now soaking his butt and hands.

"**Yes."**The fox said clearly, his voice rising. **"I am the entity the village you live in feared the most."**

"K-Kyuubi… Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine-tailed fox." Although he couldn't see it, Naruto imagined nine big, fat, furry tails waving freely deeper inside the darkness that housed the cage.

"**The Kyuubi no Kitsune!"**It boomed. Naruto's golden hair waved backwards. He expected the fox's breath to stink of something, but it was completely odorless.

"**I'm glad you've heard of me."**The entity said with what Naruto thought was a smirk.

"Oh, I have!" The ninja wannabe said boldly, suddenly finding his courage. He stood quickly and walked forward, his fear to the gigantic creature forgotten and replaced by anger. "I definitively have!"

The boy's attitude seemed to amuse the fox.

"**Oh?"**

"You are the demon who attacked Konoha twelve years ago." Naruto yelled aggressively. Iruka-sensei had talk about him in the Academy; the scarred chuunin explained about what had happened the tenth of October more than a decade ago. He now remembered the number of lives, both of shinobi and normal civilians that the attack of the legendary fox had taken.

But why was Kyuubi standing in front of him?

"… You were supposed to be killed by the Yondaime" said the blond, utterly confused about the creature's presence.

Kyuubi barked with laugher, almost making Naruto fall over again.

"**Foolish human, to think the greatest demon in the known and unknown world could be killed by a mere mortal."**the Kyuubi said mockingly, his face seemed to always house a smirk. "**I cannot be killed by a short-timer like that Hokage of yours. Defeated yes, but killed… never."**

"Then…. What are you?" asked Naruto in confusion, he just noticed he had goose bumps all over his arms.

"**I am the embodiment of all evil in this dimension. I am your fears and your mistakes ,the murders and thefts, the rapes and lies."**The Kyuubi laughed at Naruto's confused, yet shocked stare. **"I am the Kyuubi without my body."**Naruto didn't know if he believed that. The fox in front of him seemed solid enough. He could definitively tell there was a fox body behind the bars. He wanted to ask what he/it meant at _this_dimension. He decided that he didn't want to know, that he wouldn't be able to understand even if he tried.

"So… What are _you_ doing here?" asked Naruto. "And where exactly is _here_?" The blond glanced around at the dark corners.

"**We are in your mind"**said the fox simply.

A smile spread across the boy's face finally understanding.

"This is all a dream then" Naruto said in relief, a shaky laugh escaping his lips. This was the weirdest, most twisted dream he'd ever had. He could classify it as a nightmare easily.

Kyubi laughed. **"You wish human. Have you never noticed the seal that appears in your stomach every time you use chakra? Haven't you wonder why the villagers hate you so much? Why they fear you?"**Naruto did not answer, he had a feeling he didn't want to hear the reason for his mistreatment.

"**It's because I am sealed inside of you?"**said Kyuubi, beginning to laugh. **"You are the container of the famous Kyuubi!"**The animal finished loudly, his dark voice full of humor.

Naruto's eyes bulged out of his eyes in disbelief, his mouth hanging open.

"Wh… What?" He asked meekly, staring at the animals muzzle.

"**The Yondaime sealed me inside you, because he knew I couldn't be killed. The mortal realized it was the only way to stop me."**Kyuubi said with an evil smile.

Realization hit the blond boy like a ton of bricks. Now it all made sense... the cold looks, the people avoiding him everywhere he went and all that fear he felt around him. That was the reason… He or It or whatever the fox was… He was at fault for every time he'd felt miserable with his life. Uzumaki Naruto housed the demon that destroyed most part of the Leaf Village, killed their loved ones and, specially, killed the Yondaime Hokage, the village's hero.

"But… Why me?" asked the young blond, in a low voice. His head was lowered, his hair casted a shadow on his eyes.

"**I don't know the reason it was**_**you.**_**But I do know that the seal that bind us could only be performed in a newborn infant that didn't had his chakra coils developed yet."  
"If it had been an older person he or she would have died immediately."**Responded Kyuubi. **"Maybe you were the only new born that was available."**The demon shrugged. Naruto was only half listening. He was too stunned to say anything else. The kitsune continued rambling,

"**That foolish mortal… condemned me to live all my life within you"**His tone took an annoyed edge. The whiskered blond found his voice eventually.

"What would happen if I died? I mean, what would happen to you?" The Kyuubi seemed to dislike the question, since he gritted its sharpened fangs. "Would you die, too? Because if you did, then maybe I should just kill myself… That way everyone would be happy, the demon that made Konoha suffer so much would finally die and-"

"**Don't even think about it, kit"**warned the fox. **"Haven't you notice how you can heal yourself faster than any normal human being? That is my chakra healing your injuries. If you ever try to kill yourself I will heal you."**Said the fox with a sadistic smile.

"So, I'm dammed to live with a stupid fox inside me?" Naruto's self pity was now being replaced by honest anger.

"**How do you dare insult me?"**The fox exclaimed indignantly. **"I am the strongest demon there is!"**

"That may be, but you're now sealed inside me and can't do anything about it." snapped Naruto back. He was starting to recover his usual self. The Kyuubi mumbled something that the blond couldn't understand.

"Why did summon me here?" demanded the tanned boy.

"**I wanted to make a deal with you, boy."**responded Kyuubi.

"What kind of deal?"

"**You want to be Hokage, right? I can make that happen."**said Kyuubi smugly. **"I will grant you the power you need… If you broke the seal and let me out of here"**Kyuubi said with an evil smile.

"No." the pre-teen replied immediately. The smile in Kyuubi's face faded just as quickly. **"Why not? Isn't that your wish?"**Kyuubi asked, angered.

"Yes that's my dream, and that's the same reason why I won't let you out!. A Hokage must protect his village and the people that live in it. I'm sure that if I release you you'd attack again." Kyuubi didn't refute that. It grunted and decided to ask instead,

**"I don't understand, why would you possibly want to protect the people that hate you?"**

"Because not all of them hate me, there's some that are nice to me." said Naruto with a ghost of smile. "And now I understand why the villagers hate me, and I don't really blame them for that. I will become Hokage to prove that I am not a demon. And that I will protect them no matter what. I'm sure some of them will understand." Naruto said with conviction.

Kyuubi didn't understand this boy. Even though the villagers hate him and even tried to kill him, he was determined to protect them. How could a twelve-year old brat be so compassionate? But he has to recognize that the kid had guts.

"I have a proposition for you" said the young boy suddenly.

"_**You**___**have a proposition for**_**me?**_**"**The fox asked, amused. **"What could you probably offer to a demon like me?"**

"If you accept to train me maybe you can have a little freedom." Began Naruto. "Let's say I'm in big trouble and I need a hand, I could let you posses my body until you finish with said problem."

Kyuubi stayed in silence for a while.

"**All right brat, I accept"** said the fox. A smile situated in the blonde's face."**But you will have to do everything I tell you."**

"You got it!" Naruto said energetically. He was a demon after all, and the blond doubted he was used to being disobeyed.

"**The first thing you've got to do is buy new weights."**Naruto nodded his head at that, he had to buy his new weights soon anyway. **"They'll have to weight fifteen pounds exactly."**

"hum… OK."

"**And you'll have to wear them all the time."** Added the creature.

"I can do that." said Naruto confidently.

"**Even when you sleep."**Kyuubi said with a sadistic smile.

"WHAT?" asked a shocked Naruto.

"**Can you do it?"**asked Kyuubi.

"Of course I can do it!" shouted Naruto, annoyed.

"**Good"**Said the large fox. **"It's time for you to go."**

"Wait! How can I contact you again?"

"**Just search in your mind."**responded the fox with a devilish grin. **"Now wake up, you don't want to be late for class."**Smirked the Kyuubi.

**BIP BIP BIP BIP**

Naruto rolled on his bed until he was facing the clock. He opened his eyes.

**7: 30 A.M**

The sound stopped when the blond pushed down the bottom.

Suddenly all the memories came back to him. Naruto pull himself up so he was sitting in the edge of his bed. _'Was that a dream?'_He thought. The young boy got to his feet, took off his t -shirt and started molding some chakra. The blond fought back a gasp.  
A seal had appeared slowly on his skin. It showed a spiral that centered on his belly button and surrounding it were eight flame-like lines.

'_It's true.'_ Naruto realized sadly. He had actually never seen the seal since he always trained with his shirt on. The blond sighed deeply while he just stood in the middle of his room. After a minute, Naruto's head shot up, his eyes radiating with determination.

"I have a demon inside, so what?" He yelled out loud, a cocky grin slid into his face. "I'll become Hokage anyway."

Ten minutes had passed on the clock. _'I better get ready.'_The blond jumped into action as he headed for the small bathroom of his. Ten minutes later he was walking briskly to the kitchen, ready to give his stomach his favorite food.

"Oh, shiiit." The whiskered genin wannabe hung his head after he discovered an empty cupboard. _'Should've saved one for today.'_He lamented bitterly. A knock on the door diverted his thoughts from ramen.

"Just in time." Naruto whispered to himself as he made his way to the door. A tall, cloaked figure awaited for him outside his modest apartment. The newcomer was wearing an ANBU mask that resembled a cat.

"Good morning." The figure nodded, handing an envelope to Naruto. "Lord Hokage sent his greetings."

"Thanks" The boy replied, receiving the envelope. Every month, the Sandaime sent a certain amount of money to Naruto for his daily expenditures. It was not much but for Naruto it was enough since he just cared about ramen, hot water and weapons. The ANBU nodded curtly and made a hand sign, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Naruto opened the envelope and put the money in his frog-like wallet.

"There you go, Gama-chan." He spoke to the wallet. A very young and cute Naruto had named it like that. Kids weren't good at coming up with good names, but Gama-chan remained.

He stepped out and closed the door. In his way to the academy, the boy stopped by old Sango's lunch stand; ran by an octogenarian that sold lunch boxes at reasonable prices. Naruto bought one and continued walking afterwards.

The blond got to the Academy, and passed by the parents that were sending him cold looks while saying goodbye to their children.

When Naruto got to his classroom, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him like he had sprouted an extra head, but no one said anything. While the blond was walking towards his place, he saw Kiba talking to an uncomfortable Hinata. The dog user spotted him coming his way and stopped his conversation with the Hyuuga girl.

"Why good morning." Kiba called mockingly. "I think this is the first time you manage to come in early. Are you sick or something? Or did you just got tired of scrubbing the tables clean?" Naruto didn't even bother to look at him. He just went right to Hinata's side and placed his lunch box on the floor. Kiba had always been hostile towards him and Naruto guessed it was because his parents told him not to be friendly with him. But the Uzumaki liked it better when they tried to taunt him… at least they recognized his existence.

"Morning." He said, turning to Hinata, who blushed prettily.

"G-good m-morning N-naruto-kun." Said the nervous girl. Kiba's eye twitched in anger. He tried another jeer.

"You think you can pass the genin exam this time, Uzumaki? It's not too far away, you know?" Kiba finished with a satisfied smile on his face.

"I don't think so… I'm sure as hell gonna pass." The blond said firmly. This caused a laughed from the Inuzuka. Hinata smiled at Naruto's conviction on his own words. The blond saw her and sent her a kick wink, making the girl flush deeply. Hinata's reaction enraged the brunette even more.

"That's what you said the last two times, and you still failed miserably." Kiba taunted.

"You don't have to believe me. I don't expect you to, and I don't really care. You'll just have to wait and see." The blond said with a smirk and turned his head forward, signalizing the end of their conversation. Kiba widened his nostrils while he glared daggers at the whiskered boy.

"You-"

Whatever Kiba was going to say died in his mouth as Iruka entered the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted cheerfully. The students greeted back in unison.

"Naruto, I see you made it on time" Iruka said with a smile, raising his head to look at Naruto. "I'm surprised."

"I'm full of surprises Iruka-sensei." The blond said with a fox like grin. This produced a smile from the Hyuuga girl that went unnoticed by the Uzumaki.

"I'm glad. I hope you can get here on time every day."

"I wouldn't count on that if I were you, sensei." replied Naruto.

"Well if you don't want to clean the windows you better keep getting here on time." The teacher replied with a dangerous smile. Naruto managed a dismayed smile.

"Well class today we are going to go outside to practice your accuracy." said Iruka. "So let's get going, we don't want to waste time."

"How troublesome." groaned someone at Naruto's left.

"I heard that, Shikamaru!" yelled Iruka at once, turning to pint at the boy. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes. Everyone stood up and followed the chuunin towards their designated training ground.

"It sure beats a boring lecture, I'll tell you that." Naruto said as he passed the pineapple-haired boy.

"I can sleep during a lecture, so I think I prefer indoors." Drawled the Nara as he turned his head to the blond.

"You got a point there." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"But you can watch the clouds while we are outside, ne Shikamaru?" Chouji piped from his place besides the Nara. His plump face smiling cheerfully at the two other boys.

"True." The Nara said in a boring tone.

"What do the clouds have to do with anything?" Naruto asked.

"Shikamaru loves his clouds." The Akimichi answered simply.

"Huh." The group exited the building and walked towards the wooden dummies stuck firmly on the ground. They talked a bit more while they got there.

"Pick a dummy, everyone." The young ones scurried towards the still figures. Some of the students had a favorite dummy and ran to them immediately. Others, like Shikamaru and Naruto, just approached the one closer to them.

"We'll have thirty minutes of practice." Explained Iruka, he was holding a clipboard on his hand and had a pen in his hand. "Afterwards there'll be an accuracy contest."

The Academy students looked at each other, some cheering and others cursing. The Hokage liked to create tournaments among the kids to motivate them to keep getting better. Part of the motivation was the prize the winner got.

"The winner will be given a new set of kunai and shuriken, along with a sharpening kit." The kids started talking hotly about the prize. Naruto didn't look too interested, Iruka witnessed. He smiled slyly as he wet his lips for the next part. "Also, he or she won't have to present tomorrow's written test." Naruto's ears perked up at the last part, he grinned. He didn't have any need for more weapons, although he wouldn't mind having some spares; but he'd gladly take any opportunity to skip a test. _'You do know how to motivate me, Iruka-sensei.'_Naruto got a few shuriken from his leg pouch and started to warm up.

"I'm so gonna get those!" Kiba said excitedly, two dummies away from him. "Hear that Sasuke? You better kiss them goodbye 'cause they're coming home with me!"

The Uchiha lifted a boring eyebrow and turned towards his dummy. He started practicing with deadly accuracy.

"Keep dreaming, Kiba. There's no way you could beat Sasuke-kun." Sakura said with a derisive laugh.

"Haven't you seen him? He always hit the center without breaking a sweat." Ino sneered, besides the pink-haired Haruno. Almost all the girls of the class nodded fervently. A few choruses of 'Totally' followed the girl's comment. Sakura turned to face the raven-haired boy with dreamy eyes.

"Right, Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke ignored her.

"Stupid girls." The Inuzuka said under his breath.

"What was that?" hissed Ino, sending him a death glare. The brunette took a step backwards.

"Nothing… Just forget it." Ino huffed and turned her head, her long ponytail after her.

Naruto laughed at the scene. He thought Kiba ought to watch his mouth if he wants to avoid being beaten up by a bunch of 'stupid girls.' His eyes shifted to Sasuke. _'I'd hate to be him. I'll kill myself if I had a party of annoying girls following me 24/7"_The young blond _almost_felt bad for him.

"OK everyone let's get started." Said the scarred chuunin after every child was accommodated in his/her position.

"Each one of you will be allowed ten kunai and ten shurikens to throw at the targets." Iruka explained. "You will start at twenty feet from it. As each round passes you will get further away from your objective. The closer your weapons are to the head and heart the better. After all of you have finished throwing your weapons, I will start to eliminate the participants. There are twenty-seven of you and there will be seven rounds. In the first four rounds I will take out five persons. On the next one I'll eliminate four of you. That leave us the prelims with three people and the final will leave us with the two finalists. Got it?" asked Iruka.

"Hai." Everyone responded at the same time.

"All right, you can start now." As soon as Iruka finished talking, every kid started throwing their shurikens and kunai toward the dummies. Hinata was throwing her weapons with impeccable accuracy. Shikamaru was throwing his without much interest; he seemed to be missing intentionally. Kiba, with a confident smile, was doing rather well. Sasuke bore a face heavy with concentration and Naruto was not even looking at the dummy. He had practiced a lot from far longer distances; this exercise was a piece of cake.

"I see everyone has finished." Iruka said. He started to walk up to every dummy to see which student got the worst aiming. The first five kids were eliminated, one of them being Shikamaru, who wasn't bothered at all. He calmly walked up to the shade produced by a huge tree nearby, laid down and looked up at the sky with a content smile on his face. Iruka shook his head at his student's lack of competitiveness and then ordered everyone to retrieve their weapons.

"We are going to start the second round." Iruka said. "This will be done at twenty-five feet from the target. Please get ready."

"Start!" shouted Iruka and everything started again. Kiba had some difficulties; he missed four kunai and five shuriken. Sakura missed two kunai and three shuriken, as well as Ino. Hinata only missed one shuriken and one kunai. Shino missed only one shuriken. Sasuke didn't miss any, neither did Naruto. After everyone ran out of weapons, Iruka passed by every dummy and examined them. He kicked off another five kids, including Chouji, who went over to where Shikamaru was and sat at his side.

"All right the third round will be at thirty feet away." Iruka said after everyone retrieved their weapons. The remaining kids accommodate once more. "Begin!" This time Kiba missed five kunai and six shuriken, Ino missed four kunai and seven shuriken, Sakura missed three kunai and five shuriken, Shino missed tree kunai and four shuriken, Hinata two kunai and two shuriken. Sasuke almost missed a shuriken. The blond haired boy didn't miss any.

Iruka expulsed five new more kids. On the fourth round Kiba and Ino were among the losers. Kiba was clearly not happy about the result. The dog trainer was about to sit down along with the other disqualified students when he realized something.

"Wait a minute! Why is that dumbass still competing, he should have lost in the first round!" Kiba cried pointing at Naruto. The blond smirked and went over the dummy to retrieve his weapons.

"Because he hasn't missed any shurikens or kunai yet." Responded the chuunin and turned to Naruto with a smile. "It seems he's been training. Now, Kiba, I recommend that you sit down and stop using that awful language." The last part he said with a frown towards the Inuzuka. Kiba scowled and sat down in the ground where Akamaru was waiting for him. The other students began to gossip about Naruto's improvement.

The fifth round would be held at thirty-five feet from the objective. Sakura, Shino, Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto still remained on the competition. This time Sakura missed all but two kunai, Shino missed six kunai and nine shuriken and Hinata missed six kunai and eight shuriken. Sasuke didn't miss any, but his weapons were a bit separated from one another. _'This is way too easy'_thought Naruto as he threw his last shuriken with impressive aim. Four youngsters were kicked out on this round, among them Shino and Sakura.

"Very well" Iruka was jotting something down on the clipboard. "You all did very good. The preliminaries will be held among Sasuke, Hinata and Naruto." Naruto sent Hinata a thumps up, while Hinata just swallowed nervously: because of the blond and the competition.

"G-Good L-Luck." She said timidly, towards both boys although her eyes never left Naruto. The blond flashed her a grin as well as a thumps up. Sasuke murmured a 'hn' and walked away.

Iruka announced the beginning of the round and the kids got into action. Both the Hyuuga and the Uchiha remained focused while throwing their projectiles. Naruto appeared to be bored. Unfortunately Hinata could only hit the dummy with four knifes.

"This will leave us with the two finalists: Sasuke…" The girls started cheering. "… and Naruto." finished Iruka with a big smile on his face. A deep silence enveloped the young ninja wannabe; stunned faces were seen among the public. Everyone was wondering the same thing: when did the village clown reached Uchiha Sasuke's level?

"Go for it Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, show him you're still the best!" Shouted Ino, the rest of the fan girls also started to wish Sasuke do his best. Said boy didn't paid attention to them as he was too busy staring at the only opponent left._'How did Uzumaki become this good?'_

Naruto seemed unaware of Sasuke's attention; he just scratched his chin absentmindedly.

'_Must be sheer luck.'_Concluded the raven-haired boy. _'I'll beat him anyway… there's no way that clown can be better than me.'_

"New rules boys, listen up. Five kunai each, forty feet away." The boys nodded, Naruto with a big smile on his face.

"Why are you so happy, Uzumaki?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm count how many weapons I'll have after getting the new kit." responded Naruto still smiling. Sasuke scowled at the confidence in the blond's voice.

"Is that so?" sneered Sasuke.

"Hell yeah!" Replied Naruto energetically.

"Hmph."

"You ready?" Iruka asked. The boys nodded. "Go."

Sasuke threw his knifes at once. The items flew neatly through the air, only three connecting on the dummy: two in the heart and one in the head. Naruto observed and an idea formed in his demon-infested mind,

'_If I'm going to humiliate the genius, I'll do it with a more interesting challenge.'_A mischievous smile formed on his lips. He hit his dummy with the same number of knifes as Sasuke, in the same locations: heart and head. The other two, he missed purposely. After a moment Iruka announced a tie.

"It seems that we're gonna repea-"

"I have a better idea, Iruka-sensei." interrupted Naruto. Sasuke turned towards him, as did Iruka and every other person in the training ground.

"What is it, are you gonna give up?" said Sasuke with a smirk. Naruto ignored him.

"Let's make this more interesting." started the young blond. "1 kunai, fifty yards. We'll have to hit the dummy on the heart." Some students could be heard gasping. At that distance you'd have to consider the wind direction and force if you wanted to place the knife where you wanted it.

"You OK with it, Iruka-sensei?" called the blond over to his sensei.

"Err… I guess, that is if Sasuke's agrees." The Umino turned towards his other student.

"What do you say, teme?" Naruto asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer. Sasuke's eyes twitched.

"Sure, If that's what you want." Sasuke replied stiffly.

"All right. Get ready, then." Iruka commanded. The boys followed his instructions.

"Who's going first?" asked Sasuke to the blond.

"Ladies first." answered Naruto with a mocking smile. Sasuke grunted in annoyance but didn't say anything else. He turned to the dummy and concentrated, his dark eyes connected with the dummy's 'heart'. It was highlighted with a circle painted in red. The blond waited with his arms folded. The rest of the students were watching intensely. The wind hummed softly in the air, sweet silence had fallen over the training ground. The Uchiha bended his knees a little before he hurled the kunai forward. A second later and empty 'thud' was heard. The kunai had been placed on the dummy's left arm. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough. Sasuke let out a triumphant grunt as he straightened up. Naruto didn't have a chance. The girls started to applaud and squeal.

"Way to go Sasuke-kun."

"He's soo cool."

"Let's see if you can beat that, dobe." Sasuke said with a smug smile. The blond winked at him and shifted in position. His right hand was holding the selected kunai, the left one was placed deep inside his pocket. He twirled the knife indifferently on his finger, as he faced the dummy. Without a warning the blond threw the knife swiftly.  
Once it hit the wooden figure everyone was left speechless. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. Even Shino raised an eyebrow.

Iruka took a minute to appreciate what had just happened.

"Uhmm…Uzumaki Naruto is the winner." Naruto grinned sheepishly as he looked at the kunai embedded deeply on the dummy's heart.

**Author's section**

**Please read and review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**This chapter, as well as chapter 1 and 2, had been rewritten. **

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Now with the story**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

* * *

**"A NINJA'S LIFE"**

**Chapter 3**

"What… Did I just see that?" Ino said with a shaky, unbelieving chuckle. Noticing no one was answering her, the blond haired beauty turned to the nearest person besides her.

Sakura was even more astonished than she was. The pink-haired girl was bewildered beyond words.

"Tell me I'm just seeing things." She pleaded to her former friend.

Sakura blinked.

"He lost." The Haruno girl stated in a weak voice. "Sasuke-kun…"

Other girls started to react as well, some calling for a rematch and others were on the verge of tears.

Effectively, Naruto had beaten Sasuke on that last match and the whole class was admiring the results. Iruka had been so surprised that he stepped towards the dummy to inspect the kunai further. It was firmly incrusted on the hard material. The teacher smiled to himself, thinking that the news would please the Hokage very much.

The kids were whispering amongst themselves, speaking among the lines that it wasn't possible for the last member of the prestigious Uchiha clan in Konoha to lose against Uzumaki Naruto; the clown of the village, dead last of the class, kid that had failed the genin exam three consecutive times. The Uchiha prodigy had been humiliated by a kid that didn't even have a notable family history.

"That was impressive but overall intriguing." Shino said while fixing his shades. Kiba jumped at hearing the bug boy talk besides him. He wondered whether that comment was directed to him or the Aburame was just talking to himself.

"You got to be kidding. It was just luck." Kiba snarled, still trying to believe what his eyes just saw. "I mean it's Uzumaki! I bet the dumbass couldn't do it again."

'_I'm sure he could.' _Hinata replied on her mind, too shy to express her own opinion. _'Naruto-kun is incredible. He's gotten so much better.' _Her eyes rested on the orange-clad kid. She could see a throbbing vein on Naruto's forehead; the boy was clearly annoyed by the opinions of the classmates around him.

"Is that even legal, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked his friend, licking his fingers. Shikamaru's head was raised so he could get a better look at the blond. The Nara didn't respond as he was too busy analyzing Naruto. _'That kid's been holding back. He fooled even me.' _

"Congratulations Naruto." Iruka said turning towards the blond with a big smile. "Here, you sure have earned this." said the chuunin handing Naruto a wrapped package. It was heavy and you could hear metal knifes clanking against each other. "And you don't have to study for tomorrows test." Iruka added.

"Thanks Iruka-sensei." said the young blond with a fox like grin, scratching his neck. He blocked out all the commentary from his fellow classmates. The whiskered boy decided he would open the gift later, since all the students were staring strangely at him and that made him feel uncomfortable.

Sasuke was also looking at him, he noticed. _'He's got the right to stare. After all I just handed him his first defeat in the Academy.' _Thought Naruto with a chuckle.

The Uchiha wore a frown on his face and had his fists clenched into a ball. _'I can't…' _His fists started to shake in anger. His pale face began to flush. _'It's just impossible.' _In what world could an Uchiha loose against a dead last? The Sharingan belonged to _his_ family; he should have had the advantage in accuracy. _'How?'_

His ears perked up at the sound of his name. His dark eyes switched to his "audience". They were talking about him now. They were talking about him as a looser. Suddenly terror struck him as a thought occurred to him. _'They're going to tell their parents. Tomorrow all the adults will think that I'm a disgrace to the Uchiha.' _

The raven-haired boy started to feel a desperate need to know how Naruto had done it.

"The idiot has tried for genin three times and failed... He couldn't just have gotten this good so quickly." Sasuke muttered to himself.

The bell rang, signalizing the end of the class.

"Whoa, this took longer than expected." Iruka said, looking at his watch. "OK everyone, you can go and have lunch."

One by one, the students snapped out of their trance and started to move towards the building. Naruto jogged towards the classroom, eager to eat his lunch after the events. He noticed how Sasuke's eyes were glued to his back.

The Uzumaki was one of the first of his class to get over to the lunch area. His mood brightened when he saw the spot under one of the few trees inside the area deserted. He grinned. Normally it would be occupied by a group of four dumb kids but once Naruto sat down to eat no one dared disturb him.

Once he sat down the other students started to arrive, lunch boxes in hand. While the other kids ate lunch made by their moms/dads/maids, Naruto had to eat whatever came in the bento box of the day. This time it was sushi rice, pickled vegetables and fish._ 'Tomorrow I'll bring some ramen cups.'_ He thought to himself.

A chorus of high-pitched squeaks distracted him from his lunch. He turned his head to see the Uchiha boy sitting on his usual table with a bunch of girls around him.

"Sasuke-kun, don't be sad, I'm sure you were just too tired to concentrate." One fan girl said.

"You can have my lunch if you want. My mom is a great cook!" All the girls started offering the boy their lunches. Naruto thought he heard a girl saying she would give him a neck massage if he wanted. The golden haired boy scoffed at the girls. _'All the girls around here are so annoying.' _Naruto thought, breaking apart a new pair of chopsticks.

"H-H-Hello." A tiny voice said to his left. Naruto turned to look at the owner of that voice.

"Oh. Hinata… hey." He replied at the indigo-haired girl with a dubious voice. _'What's she doing here?'_

Said Hyuuga stood awkwardly in front of him with her lunch in one hand. From her blushed face and restless tugging at the hem of her jacket, she seemed very uneasy to the blond. Naruto wondered if it would be considered rude to ask her business with him. He decided he didn't care.

"What brings you here?" the blond asked innocently yet a bit suspicious. Hinata immediately look to her right, avoiding the stunning pair of bright blue orbs directed at her.

"I-I only wanted to…" She closed her eyes tightly, trying to find it in her to continue talking. "I w-wanted to congratulate y-you for your d-demonstration." The girl almost choked on her own words.

The blond raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" He said, incredulous. "Me?" he pointed a finger to his own chest.

Hinata nodded nervously. His eyes fixed on her for a good while, waiting for her to snort at him and claim she was just kidding him, but that didn't happen. For what the blond could tell she was being serious.

"Heh… thanks." said the blond scratching his neck sheepishly, a grin spreading across his face. Hinata's heart warmed instantly at his smile.

"I w-was also wondering if I-I…" She inhaled deeply. "c-could, uhm, j-jo-"

"Join me?" The blond finished for her, seeing she had a difficult time saying that.

Hinata nodded vigorously, blood rushing to her whole face.

"Really?" Naruto wondered again, confused at this kind of request. _'Why in the world would she want to do that?' _

"H-Hai." The poor girl felt like fainting.

"Well, sure, I guess." The blond said finally._ 'Yeah, why not?' _It would be the first time Naruto would _not_ be eating alone in the Academy.

With a final gulp, Hinata sat beside him, a massive blush on her face but was starting to recede, since the hardest part was already over. Quietly, she unfolded her lunch, avoiding eye contact with the blond. They started to eat silently.

"Honestly, I'm surprised." The blond commented thoughtfully, playing with his vegetables, still unable to believe she had approached him.

"A-About what?" the girl questioned, looking at him.

"Well, you seem to be the only girl to actually be "happy" for me." His eyes turned to hers and the young Hyuuga felt weak. "Why aren't you over there, with Sasuke and the other girls?"

"Why w-would I be?" she asked innocently. "I don't r-really know them."

"But… Don't you like Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"H-How could I like s-someone I don't k-know?" she looked directly at him when she said that.

The blond looked at her with surprise. This girl was really different from the any other he'd ever met. She wasn't shallow as he imagined the rest of the girls in the Academy were.

His stare made Hinata too nervous to keep looking at him; she lowered her head and focused on her lunch. Naruto's eyes placed themselves on the sushi inside her bento box.

"Did your mom made that?"

"N-no." responded Hinata, taking out her own chopsticks. "The… The chef."

"Oh, you have a chef? Neat! I bet you can ask him to cook you whatever you want." Hinata nodded slightly. "What about your mom?"

"S-She is… She d-died." The girl answered faintly, lilac eyes falling to her toes.

Cursing mentally, Naruto resisted the impulse to slap himself. _'Of all the questions I could've asked… no wonder why no one sits with me…'_

"I'm really sorry… I'm an idiot for bringing that up." Naruto replied guiltily, trying to find her eyes with his.

"It's not y-your fault… you d-didn't know after all. Besides it w-was a long time a-ago." Even though she tried to comfort him by offering him a reassuring smile, her eyes didn't look too lively.

Naruto returned her smile, and tried to change the subject.

"Do you like ramen?" was the question that came out of his mouth after a frantic search of subjects in his young mind. It might have been a lame topic, but Hinata did smile genuinely at this, knowing of the blond's addiction to the dish.

"Yes."

Noticing the rise on her mood, Naruto pressed on.

"Which one do you like best?" The whiskered Uzumaki leaned forward. Hinata blushed.

"Uhm… P-pork." She replied curtly with a nervous glance at his bright, blue irises. Noticing that Naruto had been asking all of the questions up until now, the girl decided to ask one of her own, "W-What's y-yours?"

"My favorite ramen flavor?" Naruto asked himself, placing a hand on his chin and looking at the distance. He seemed to be taking the question very seriously. "Huh, I've never thought about that, since they are all delicious, let me see…"

Hinata hid a smile with her hand. Naruto was really getting excited about the whole subject.

"- Well… When I'm at Ichiraku's and have enough money on me, I ask for one of each flavor. But when I'm low on cash I order miso ramen." The blond said this all with one breath, eyes gleaming at the thought of his favorite meal. He now wished he was eating ramen right now. "You could say miso is my favorite, I guess."

He finished with a grin as he turned to the raven-haired girl. She was giggling.

"What?" he frowned a bit, inspecting her closely.

"That's y-your favorite food, i-isn't it?" Hinata said with a cute smile.

"You bet!" yelled the blond.

"I-It shows."

"I would eat it all day if I could." Naruto continued. This conversation wasn't as bad as he expected it would turn out. It had started to flow quite well. _'Look at me, I'm actually chatting with a girl!' _He congratulated himself on the smooth recovery he pulled.

"Can y-you cook it?" Hinata found herself talking again. She noticed that the more time she spent with Naruto, the easier it was to talk to him.

"Nah… It doesn't end very well when I try; actually is disastrous! I've stopped trying since my kitchen doesn't stand that much damage." The blond scratched his neck thoughtfully. Hinata giggled. "I know how to make eggs, though… and sandwiches! Also I can fry some meat, but I can't cook rice. How 'bout you? Are you as terrible as me in the kitchen?"

She shook her head. "I c-can c-cook a little b-bit of everything, I think." She answered.

"Really?" the spiky-haired boy asked. Hinata knew he was intrigued and also knew what the next question would be. She smiled in anticipation, admiring how his eyes were lighting up. "Can you cook ramen?"

"Yes!"

"That's sooo cool!" The blond exclaimed, arms shooting up.

Of course she knew! Ever since she discovered her crushes' love for ramen, she started practicing in hopes that one day she would be able to cook for him. They would go out on a picnic date and she would feed it to him while he complimented her on her skills… Obviously that was just one of the many fantasies she had that would never come true.

Or would it?

Taking a deep, calming breath, she opened her mouth. "I-I…"

"Hmm?" Naruto turned his head at her. Hinata gulped, nervousness almost getting the best of her, but she fought it off.

"I c-could… uhm cook s-some for you sometime… i-if you like." The courage she had gathered up throughout their conversation quickly dissipated as she spoke.

To her horror, Naruto laughed.

"Are you serious?" He interrogated her. The girl could see what was coming next; he would say that he'd never eat anything made by a pathetic girl like her.

'_I should've just let him be…'_

"You would really do that? For me?" His head was completely turned to her, eyes shining with excitement. Hinata nodded shyly, weakening under his gaze.

"Man! Imagine my luck! Thanks Hinata, I would love to try out your ramen. I bet it'd taste great!" Through all his happiness, he forgot to wonder the reason why she would cook for him. _Him, _the antisocial boy that every adult wanted to kick down but, thanks to the Kyuubi, restrained themselves.

Hinata was so close to fainting with joy. _'I get to cook for Naruto-kun!' _

Naruto was still washing her with 'thank yous' and praises. The girl spoke up,

"When would y-you like me to b-bring it?"

"It's your decision, that is." Replied the energetic ninja wannabe.

"H-How about in a m-month?" the girl said with shyly, looking up at him through her long eyelashes. "In time for t-the genin exam." She knew it'd be a great day for him. He'd make genin easily this time.

"Great! That way we'll celebrate when we both get to become genin."

Hinata blushed at his words. That boy thought that she, the disgrace of the Hyuuga clan, would make it to genin. She wished she could be that confident in herself.

"Ok." The pale girl answered shortly. She smiled at how great her conversation with Naruto had turned out.

The blond caught her smile and he grinned cheekily. Hinata's smile was contagious.

The bell sang again at that very moment, and the children started to retrieve their stuff and walk to their respective classrooms.

Wolfing down what was left of his lunch (he had been so involved in their talk that he barely touched his food), Naruto stood up and offered Hinata his hand. She took it and thanked him, face growing red. The two younglings hurried to class, Naruto ignoring the murderous look the Inuzuka was throwing at him. Iruka was waiting already; he threw a curious glance at the both of them, chatting happily. He smiled.

The class ran its natural course; except for the curious looks the other students were giving Naruto, still not believing he could've surpassed the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan. Naruto was already dozing off next to Hinata, who kept stealing glances at his relaxed face, when Iruka signalized the end of the lecture.

"It's a little bit early but you can leave now." He said to his young pupils. "Have a nice day, everyone!"

Feeling reenergized, Naruto bolted right up and climbed down towards the door.

"Wait a minute, Naruto." Iruka called after him before the blond was lost behind the door. The blond turned his head with a questioning look.

"What's the matter, Iruka-sensei?"

The teacher smiled inwardly at Naruto's way of calling him. He was the only teacher at the Academy that Naruto actually called 'sensei'.

"I wanted to let you know that you did an impressive demonstration back there, Naruto." He placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder while he said this. "I'm really happy that you hadn't given up. It really shows how much you've trained and I'm really proud."

Naruto looked at him, knowing right away that those words were sincere. A cheesy grin spread across his face.

"You've earned a ramen deluxe special from Ichiraku's." Iruka also grinned. "My treat."

"Thanks!" yelled the twelve-year old boy, his face lighting up. Two ramen offers on the same day! "Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

They agreed to meet up on Friday. Naruto left with a wave of his hand.

The blond hurried through the crowded streets towards the weapon shop he usually visited for his gear.

'_I need to get the weights the stupid fox asked me to wear… and I also need to buy my ramen.' _Naruto went through the door, followed by a bell chiming his arrival on top of him. There was silence next, since no one was showing up.

"Er… Hello?" The whiskered boy called, looking round. The shop smelled like polished wood. Knifes and swords were neatly placed on top of shelves aligned to the walls while explosive tags, shurikens and kunai of every shape and form adorned the glass shelves in front of him. Naruto was admiring a beautiful katana with a red handle when a voice spoke from behind the wooden wall.

"_Tenten, please get this one. I'm a little bit busy back here!"_ A gruff, male voice said from inside the storage door. A moment later steps were making their way towards the front of the shop and a girl around Naruto's age, maybe older, came through the door. Her clothes were Chinese in nature, pink, and she had her brown hair arranged in two tight bums on top of her head.

"Sorry for making you wait. My name is Tenten, how may I help you today?" Tenten asked professionally. Despite her young age, it was clear she was used to tending to customers.

"Yeah, hi." The blond responded, eyes drifting towards the items under the counter. "I'm looking for a complete set of weights."

"Sure. How many pounds would you like in them?" The brown-eyed female questioned, rounding the counter and approaching the shelves on the left which was holding more merchandise.

"Fifteen." Answered the blond simply, following the girl and looking at the samples curiously. She looked at him, slightly surprised.

She thought of asking him if it wasn't a little excessive for the boy but held her tongue. It wasn't so strange to have youngsters training with additional weight now days. Her teammate was one of them, after all.

"All right. We have that set back there, so if you could please wait a moment I'll find them for you."

Naruto did just that. The brown-haired girl retreated and came back two minutes later with a brown box.

"There you go." She said, pushing it forward so the blond could see. He peeked inside and found everything was in order. "That'd be 50 ryo, please." Reaching for his frog-like wallet, Naruto nodded and counted the money before handing it to the girl.

"You know, my teammate also trains with heavy weights such as you." She commented, looking at the boy sealing back the box.

"Really? What's his name?" the blond asked, mildly interested.

"Lee."

"Hmm, doesn't ring a bell. Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome." She called, dismissing another client and going to the back of the store. Naruto waved goodbye and turned, carrying his new acquisition happily, although a little worried, since he noticed just how heavy his new weights were.

After getting strange looks from fellow pedestrians as he tried to juggle the unusual large amount of cupped ramen on top of his new weight gear and storing those on his kitchen's cupboards, one hour and a half had passed.

The orange-clad twelve-year-old was now sitting cross-legged with the open box in front of him. He admired with excitement the brand new blue five-weights set lying neatly on top of each other. The blond jumped to his feet and stripped off his jacket, along with his old set of weights. They fell heavily a few feet behind him, already forgotten.

Naruto grabbed the heavy vest first, and placed it upon him, on top of his white shirt. The heaviness was easily noticeable, as his shoulders slumped with the new force pressing them down. The blond bit his lip as he remembered he had promised to sleep with them on. He wondered if it was possible to actually close his eyes with such weight on top of his lungs and ribs. That was a thought for later, however. Right now he should focus on checking out what kind of exercises the Kyuubi would order him to do. With that thought on mind, he quickly strapped on the ankle and wrist weights.

As soon as he was set he jumped in the air a couple of times, testing the weight. He gulped, noticing it required a lot from his body to rise in the air. _'Shit.'_

"All right, I have the new weights. What am I supposed to do now?" Naruto spoke out loud, waiting for a response. He then remembered he should look for the demon in his mind.

'_So, I should just call him in my mind?' _Naruto mused. _'Kyuubi? You hear me?' _Naruto could hear the wind running past his ears, but there wasn't any sign of the Kyuubi. The boy frowned, hoping the fox didn't lie to him. He closed his eyes and waited a few moments so he could completely immerse himself in his inner thoughts.

"Hey fox! I'm talking to you!" Naruto screamed into his mind, eyebrows knitted together. No answer. "Hey are you even listening, you stupid animal?!"

That seemed to do the trick. The walls of his mind trembled as the fox growled in annoyance.

"**Is this how you refer to your new master?" **

"You're not my master." Countered the blond, defiantly. "And you were ignoring me and I don't have time for that! Are you gonna train me or what? I already bought your stupid weights."

The demon bared his white, sharp fangs and glared at the tiny human. **"Mortals no longer show the respect a true demon deserves." **

"We'll talk about respect as soon as you start paying rent." The blond replied. "C'mon! We're wasting daylight."

The Kyuubi bristled but refused to keep arguing with him. He gave a demonic sigh. **"First things first... Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses, so I know where to start with you." **

"Well, my taijutsu isn't what you can call beautiful but it serves its purpose." The blond said, holding out one finger. "My genjutsu is shit, for lack of a better term…"

"**No matter. As long as I'm awake no genjutsu could fully trap you under its spell." **The fox interjected. Naruto raised an interested eyebrow. It seemed that there were perks of having a dark spirit inside you.

"My ninjutsu well… No matter how hard I try to make a jutsu, it just blasts off in my face." Naruto confessed rather embarrassed. "That's the only reason I have failed the genin exam. On the other hand, my accuracy and resistance are off the charts."

"**When you say ninjutsu, do you mean every single technique or just …?"**

"Every single one!" The blond yelled in frustration. "I can't do a proper henge, much less the Bunshin no Jutsu, and that's the one I need to pass the exam. A ninja who can't perform jutsus…"

The orange fox started to chuckle to himself, thing that arouse Naruto's bad mood again.

"What's so funny?" He demanded, fists clenching tightly by his sides.

"**It seems that my presence has something to do with your struggles, insect." **Kyuubi said with a grin. **"You see, you appear to have an overload of chakra. You have large reserves of energy just by yourself, but when you count me in the picture, there's too much even for you to handle." **

"Too much chakra?" The blond asked, confused. "That's it? Why's that a bad thing?"

"**Is bad when you want to perform simple techniques like the ones you've just described. You can have an easier time doing jutsus that require more chakra." **

"Are you saying I won't be able to do the jutsus I need for the exam?" Naruto asked, heart sinking rapidly.

"**None of that." **Kyuubi shook his head rapidly, annoyed that the boy didn't get it. **"You just need more chakra control. It'd be harder for you to achieve it but I don't think it'd be impossible." **

"Chakra control?" The blond groaned. Out of every course at the Academy, chakra control was the one he hated the most… and the one that he was worst at.

"**You need perfect chakra control if you want to be a ninja. The most powerful shinobi clans, like the Hyuuga for example, value chakra control above all other areas. Even if you try to perform advanced ninjutsu, without chakra control, you might end up bursting your chakra coils." **The nine-tailed fox explained sagely.

Naruto sighed. "What do you suggest I do, then?"

"**Oh, there are many ways to improve chakra control! As a matter of fact, millions of activities can apply for training just that." **

"And what if I just want to make the Bunshin no Jutsu successfully?"

"**Well, you could just exhaust most of your chakra reserves and try making one then. Given that you're low on chakra it won't be so hard. But that's just thinking in the short-run." **Kyuubi said, shaking his big, furry head disapprovingly. **"If you want to become a worthy Kyuubi-host, you need to polish all your skills from scratch. And that's the most important of all." **

"All of this sounds very inspiring and whatnot…" The blond said tiredly, as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "But how can you be sure I can achieve in a month what I haven't been able to achieve in three years?"

"**You see, brat. Up until now you didn't have a good teacher." **Kyuubi grinned, puffing out his chest. Naruto rolled his eyes. **"You're going to climb that tree?" **The fox pointed his red eyes towards a tall tree standing close to Naruto.

"Why? I can already climb trees." The whiskered boy inquired, blue eyes falling on it.

"**I didn't make myself clear. You're going to walk all the way up without using your hands, only chakra." **

"Just chakra? I can't do that." Naruto was looking at the fox like it was crazy.

"**Not yet…" **The fox said as patiently as he could. **"But I'd help you prac-"**

"And why does it have to be that tree in particular?" The blond continued to interrogate. "Why can't it be that one? Or the shorter one? Or-"

"**YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!" **Kyuubi barked, remembering why he hated humans; children mostly. Naruto shut his mouth with a sly smile, feeling somewhat good with himself. Something told him that not many people could make the Kyuubi this annoyed and escape alive.

After mumbling furiously with himself for a while, the fox growled a sigh. **"If you interrupt me again consider our deal off and you're free to fail your genin test again and again and-"**

"Fine, fine. Just hurry up and make your point." The blond said mockingly, holding up his hands. He pretended to miss the Kyuubi's fatal glare.

"**For climbing trees you need to expulse chakra through your feet in a perfectly balanced way so you can stick to the surface without falling." **Kyuubi spoke slowly, eyeing the blond suspiciously in case he was going to speak out of turn again. Naruto grinned at him but said nothing. **"As you're going to find out, it is not as easy as it sounds. For one part, feet are the most difficult part of the body to concentrate chakra. For the other, you need to keep the chakra flow even all over your soles, so you don't fall down. Now get going." **

The blond walked over to the tree of approximately seventy feet long. He performed a ram hand seal; the most basic of all hand signs to mold chakra, and started to pour it into his feet. A blue halo started to form around his sandals and that told him he was ready to go. He fell into a jog and, as he got closer to the tree, sped up. He stepped on the tree's trunk and used the momentum and speed gained to climb upwards. After three steps, a crunching sound reached his ears and the bark shattered under his feet, making Naruto lose his footing and sending him backwards into the unforgiving ground.

"Damn." It was already difficult to run with the new weights, not to mention his unstable chakra.

"**Oh, I forgot to tell you that if you gather too much chakra in your feet****you will probably break the tree into two."**said the fox with a cruel laugh.

"You could have said so before!" the blond said massaging the bump in his head."Stupid fox."

Kyuubi did not reply.

Naruto stood up and gathered chakra into his feet again; this time being careful not to summon too much chakra. He headed towards the tree again. On the fifth step the surface gave in. This time Naruto jumped away and fell graciously with a backwards flip.

_'This is more difficult that I thought.'_said Naruto to himself as he stood up and prepared to try again.

Naruto was in one knee, panting. Sweat covered all his face. It was already dark. He had been trying to climb the tree for five hours. He looked at the tree that was in front of him. It was covered with numerous scratches that went all over the its body. He decided to use a kunai to mark his progress by scratching at the highest point he could get in the tree. The highest mark almost reached the top of the tree.

"**Almost there."**said the giant fox, starting to get bored.

Naruto stood up with a determined look on his face. He gathered chakra to his feet and closed his eyes in concentration. When he felt the chakra he molded was the right amount he started running directly towards the tree. _'Almost there.'_repeated the blond as he ran upwards.

"Yes!" shouted the boy in joy as he stood on the top branch of the tree.

"**Not bad."**congratulated the fox. **"Now get back down and try to do a bunshin."** Naruto nodded and descended walking downwards using his new ability.

"**Now remember, you have to regulate the amount of chakra you're gonna use."**Said Kyuubi. Naruto nodded and performed a tiger seal.

"Bunshin No Jutsu!" he shouted firmly. A puff of smoke appeared beside the blond. When it dissipated there was standing a perfect clone of Naruto.

"All right!" exclaimed the young boy. He dismissed the bunshin and it disappeared into another puff of smoke. Immediately after, the blond collapse on the ground exhausted.

"This time for sure." said the blond with a grin. "I'll be genin."

"**Took you the whole night to achieve it, but it could be worse." **The fox conceded, exhaling tiredly. **"We can't do much now. Tomorrow we'll start the real training." **

The blue-eyed boy heard as the Kyuubi turned around in his cage and went further inside. He wondered tiredly just how room was inside that cage. He sighed contently.

He remained face down on the ground for ten more minutes, gathering his breath. Just as the night got colder he decided it was time to go. Picking himself up required a great deal of effort.

Being as tired as he was, Naruto could only think about getting a hot shower and eating some ramen before going to bed. He discarded the dirty shirt and pants in one corner and headed for the shower.

'_I'm finally going to be a genin.' _He thought happily to himself. Now he could stop bluffing to Kiba about passing the exam.

Once he was clean and fed and clad with the new weights, he turned towards his alarm clock. It was 2 a.m, which meant he could sleep for at least five hours.

He had a feeling tonight would be only night he would be able to sleep for more than two hours.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

** - Patty**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author****'s section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**I know it is short and i****f I took too much to update, I'm sorry. My molars were extracted and I was incapacitated. **

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 4

BIP BIP BIP BIP

Naruto rolled in his bed and deactivated the alarm, his eyes still closed. He was fatigued. Every part of his body ached. He didn't sleep well. _'Damn fox.' _He mentally cursed. Because of the stupid weights he slept uncomfortable as hell. Slowly the young spiky haired boy opened his eyes.

**7:50 a.m**

Naruto bolted to his feet. He immediately regret doing this. The blond winced in pain. His muscled were swollen from last night's training. He tried to ignore the pain and went to the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Five minutes later Naruto emerged from his apartment. The blond hurried through the streets. He suddenly halted when he passed the spot where he bought his lunch boxes. The blond quickly paid for his box and continue running.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When he got to the classroom, Naruto opened the door slowly. The spiky haired boy let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that Iruka hadn't arrived yet. He was only able to give one step when he heard a voice called from behind him.

"Well Naruto. It seems that you barely managed to get to class on time." said Iruka. Naruto tensed at hearing his voice.

"At least I'm not late, eh Iruka-sensei?" responded the young blond turning towards his sensei, his hand behind his head.

"Careful Naruto. I would hate making you clean the tables again." said the chunin in a warning tone.

"Err, not worry sensei, there's no need to do that." said Naruto nervous.

"Go to your place." ordered Iruka as he turned to his desk.

Naruto headed toward his seat. He noticed the other students looking at him with cold eyes.

"My mom told me to stay away from him." whispered one kid to his friend.

"Yeah, my parents told me he was dangerous."

Naruto lowered his head a bit. It seems that the children have told their parents about the incident of the contest of yesterday and they have forbid them to be near him. Sasuke glared at the blond when he passed his seat.

"H-Hello N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said when Naruto got to his place. The blond stared at her. Hinata was still acting towards him the way she always had. Somehow this made him feel happy.

"Hi." responded the blond with an authentic smile. This made the shy girl blush.

"Y-you look e-exhausted." noted the girl with concerned in her voice.

"Well… yesterday's wasn't one of my best nights." said the blond sitting in his place.

"Naruto! Hinata! Please be quiet." commanded Iruka interrupting his explanation about ninja's codes of behavior.

"G-Gomen, Iruka-sensei." said Hinata embarrassed. Naruto didn't say anything. Iruka continued explaining. Naruto fell asleep seconds later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the bell announced lunch time, the students went to eat. Naruto sat in his usual place. He saw Hinata approaching but was stopped by Kiba and lead to an empty table. Kiba send the blond a victorious smile and turned. Naruto could swear he saw a glimpse of disappointment in the girl's eyes. The blond pay no attention to it and started eating his meal. Once again he heard someone approaching.

"Uzumaki." called a monotonous voice.

"What do you want?" asked the blond without stopping eating. He already knew who was calling him.

"I've got a few questions from yesterday's events." responded Sasuke standing in front of him. Naruto knew this would happen sooner or later. Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the kind of person that sees himself defeated by someone and let it go easily.

"… How did you do it?" questioned the Uchiha.

"Luck?" asked the blond hopefully.

"Don't play dumb on me! It was fifty feet away!" said Sasuke beginning to feel exasperated.

"Look Uchiha, I just practiced, OK? It was simple training. Just the basics." answered the blond not liking being interrogated.

"Simple training? I'm sure there must be something else besides that." The dark haired boy said. Normal training wasn't going to help kill his brother. He was an Uchiha. He was a genius. He did advanced sessions that were worth the time of a genius like him.

"I bet if you train you could do the same thing." snapped the blond.

"Hmph." responded the Uchiha as he turned and left. He didn't need this. Once he developed his sharingan no one could beat him. _'Not even Itachi.'_ The dark haired boy went over to his usual place that was already surrounded by fan girls. He just ignored them and started eating his lunch.

Naruto continued eating his meal until the bell rang and went to class.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"OK kids, time's up. Deliver your exams." said Iruka to the class. The students stood up and went over to his sensei with their sheets of paper in their hands. Naruto was sleeping comfortably in his table.

"All right Naruto, time to wake up." Iruka said. The blond opened his eyes and stretched. It was worth beating Sasuke for forty-five minutes of sleep. Iruka put the papers in his desk and continue his class.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The bell rang and the students exited the academy. Naruto went directly to his training spot.

"Hey fox! Wake up and start training me!" shouted the blond mentally. He could hear a deep growl.

"**Fine." **responded Kyubi annoyed. He mumbled something about brats that wake you up at the middle of your sleep.

"Stop weeping and lets start!" The blond said annoyed too.

"**OK brat, you're going to improve**** your taijutsu. Starting with your strength and speed." **started Kyubi. Naruto nodded.

"**First your going to run ****ten laps to the village." **stated the fox.

"Ten!? That's twice the laps I was doing." exclaimed the young boy in disbelief.

"**Yeah, so? Oh, and you have to do it at your maximum speed." **added Kyubi.

The blond sighed. "Fine."

"**What are you waiting for, start!" **Kyubi said, and with that Naruto took off his jacket started running.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto finished his laps an hour later. The blond got where he had started and collapse in the ground, panting. The fox was proving being a pain in the ass. Every time he slowed down, Kyubi started shouting at him and telling him he must go faster.

"**Stand up brat! We aren't finished yet." **The fox said.

"Damn fox." mumbled the blond as he stood up with difficulty.

"**I heard that!" **Kyubi said irritated. Naruto just raised and lowered his shoulders.

"**Now, you're build resistance. You'll do three thousands situps and pushups. Then you're going to stay thirty minutes in pushups posture.**** And you'll finish with one thousand punches and kicks to that big trunk over there." **said the fox, starting to enjoy this.

"Are you insane!? I could tear my muscles!" exclaimed Naruto in disbelief.

"**Probably, but I can heal them. While in normal persons last healing a week, you can recuperate completely in a day. Also your body will adapt with your new training. Now start moving brat!" **ordered Kyubi with a smile. Naruto scolded as he started doing situps.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Time passed quickly. Naruto continued training as Kyubi instructed. As the blond predicted, his muscles were tore the first two weeks. He could barely move his body, and whenever he did a sudden movement his winced in pain. Hinata noted this and asked him what was the problem, Naruto just gave her an smile and told her that he was OK and that she didn't need to worry. Kyubi used his chakra to heal his strains and so the blond was ready for another training session. Kyubi's training was proving to be very tough, but little by little the young haired blond adapted to the new training session, although it consumed all his energy. Naruto continued arriving late for class; this earned a few punishments from Iruka. The blond was getting excited about the fact that the genin exams were coming and this time he was going to pass.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Day before the genin exam)

Naruto got to his apartment exhausted, as always. Maybe his muscles weren't tore but they sure as hell hurt a lot. He took a bath. When he went to his fridge to get his ramen, he cursed. One month has passed and the ramen was finished. He took the last ball of rice instead.

"At least tomorrow Hinata is gonna bring her ramen."said the blond, trying to see the bright side of the situation. The blond finished eating and went to sleep. Forgetting to set his alarm clock.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A young indigo haired girl sneezed. She was in the big kitchen of the Hyuuga state preparing a large amount of miso ramen. Hinata has been trying to make her recipe the best she could, so Naruto like it. Her little sister, Hanabi, asked what she was doing in the kitchen with the servants. Hinata told her that she was learning to cook, because sometime you would have no one to make everything for you, and you will have to be by yourself. Hanabi didn't say anything and left with no expression in her face.

Hinata had started training more since Naruto told her she would pass the genin exam. She didn't want to disappoint the blond boy. So she started practicing her Jyuuken with logs, and also she was improving her chakra control.

Hinata yawned. It was late. She put the contents of the bowl in a large recipient and closed it. The young girl went over her large bedroom. She changed and lay down in her big bed. _'I hope Naruto-kun likes it.' _And with that thought she closed her eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section****t**

**I'll try to update sooner, but I need to get in sync with everything that passed in school when I missed .**

**Please read and review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author****'s section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 5

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he focused the image that was in front of him he cursed.

**8:00 a.m**

'_Why today?' _thought the blond. Through the short period of time he spent training, his body had adjust rapidly to the new exercises he was performing. The young boy stood up and rushed to the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He was in his way to the academy three minutes later. He didn't take breakfast and neither bought his lunch. Today was the day, the genin exam, and he was going to pass it this time. The blond couldn't help but to smile. _'Finally a ninja.'_

He got to the door of his classroom and unlike the other times, he opened the door rapidly.

"Unbelievable." said Iruka with a sigh. "I thought that being this the day of the genin exam you would have the decency of being in time."

"I'm sorry sensei, I forgot to set my alarm clock." excused Naruto sincerely, he respected Iruka and didn't want to see him feel that he have no respect for him.

"Well, at least you were late only for five minutes. I hope this is the last time."

"Don't worry, It'll be the last time Iruka-sensei." responded the blond with a smile in his face. Iruka nodded and motioned to Naruto to sit on his place. The spiky haired boy went to his seat.

"Hey Hinata." greeted Naruto.

"H-Hi Naruto-kun." said the girl with her usual blush on her face. From where Naruto was sitting he could see a big steaming recipient that was located at Hinata's side.

"Oh! You brought your ramen." exclaimed the blond enthusiastically.

"H-Hai." responded the girl shyly.

"Good! I can't wait." said Naruto with a big smile. Really he couldn't wait, he didn't eat breakfast and didn't bring lunch. He wouldn't starve to death thanks to Hinata.

"A-Are you e-excited." asked the girl.

"Yup! Today we're gonna be ninjas. Can you believe it?"

"I would appreciate if you two would let me explain the rules for the genin exam!" shouted Iruka.

"Sorry." Apologized the two kids at unison. Kiba glared at Naruto but he didn't notices. Iruka nodded and started.

"As you may now, today is the graduation test to become a genin. You will have to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu to pass the test, all right?" asked Iruka to the students. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I will be calling each of you to enter the testing room." the chuunin said as he went to his desk for some papers with names in it.

"We'll start in alphabetic order." announced Iruka. He viewed the paper and called the first name. "Aburame Shino." Shino stood up without a word and followed Iruka through the corridors. A while later came a chuunin and called the next person.

"Akimichi Choji." the boy stopped eating his chips and looked at Shikamaru nervously.

"I know you can do it Choji." said the lazy boy. Choji nodded and followed the chuunin. Just out of curiosity Ino turned to Naruto and asked, "Jeez Naruto, is it that hard to wake up on time?" Naruto just shrugged.

"Seriously, you're the laziest person I've seen, after Shikamaru off course." said Ino. "Come to think about it, Shikamaru, how in the world are you on time for class. Knowing you, you would sleep for three days."

"I've a very strict mom, ya know?" responded the lazy boy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Time passed. The students were being reduced in the room. There were only ten left.

"Haruno Sakura." The pink haired girl stood from her seat and went to the testing room.

Naruto was getting bored. He was anxious to present the test, also we was starving. At this thought he turned towards the girl besides him. He immediately forgot his hunger when he saw Hinata.

"Are you OK?" asked the blond, seeing her very nervous.

"H-Hai." responded the girl shyly, a slight blush beginning to form in her cheeks. Was Naruto worried about her?

"Are you nervous?" asked the boy. Hinata nodded her head a bit.

"Don't worry, I know you will do great?" said Naruto with a reassuring smile. Hinata forgot his nervousness and stared at him surprised.

"D-Do you t-think I will p-pass?" asked the girl shyly.

"I'm sure you will." responded Naruto, smile in face. Hinata stayed in silence. If Naruto believed in her why couldn't she? Her thoughts were interrupted when the chuunin stood in the door.

"Hyuuga Hinata." Hinata stood up. When she was about to get through the door she glanced at Naruto again. Said person send her a thumbs-up and his characteristic fox-like grin. The girl nodded and went to the test room. Kiba was watching all the time, and he wasn't happy at all.

"Yo, dumbass!" called Kiba standing from his seat and walking toward Naruto. The blond responded with a bored tone. "Yeah?"

"What do you think you're doing with Hinata?" asked Kiba violently, standing in front of the blond.

"What do ya mean?" asked Naruto confused. Kiba let out an annoyed sound and grab Naruto by his jacket.

"Don't play dumb on me!" said Kiba infuriated. "You know exactly what you were doing."

"I don't know what the hell are you talking about." said the blond honestly. This made Kiba more furious, he was about to punch Naruto in the face and Naruto to dodge it when…

"Inuzuka Kiba." Kiba stopped his fist few inches from Naruto's face.

"We'll finish this later." He said as he let out his grip in the blonde's jacket and went over to the test room. The blond watched him leave. _'What was that all about? _Naruto questioned himself. Shikamaru snickered a few seats away.

"Don't you really know what he was talking about?" asked Shikamaru with a smirk. Naruto shook his head.

"Man, you're really are thickheaded." Naruto said nothing and tried to keep his thoughts away from the delicious scent Hinata's ramen was emitting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Five students left. Sasuke and Shikamaru were already called. Naruto had stood up and went over to the window to watch nothing really. _'Man, this is taking for ever.'_ He turned quickly when he heard the steps from the chuunin approaching. _'It's time.' _

"Uzuma-" started saying the man but was stopped by Naruto making his way through the corridors.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka greeted as said person entered the spacious room. There was a table with five hitae-ite on it and the table where Iruka and other chuunin were sitting.

"I guess you already know Mizuki right?" said Iruka turning to Mizuki. The silver haired chuunin was giving Naruto a kind smile. _'There's something odd about this guy.' _thought the boy. The blond nodded.

"And I guess I don't need to repeat what you've already heard three times, do I?" asked Iruka. Naruto shook his head. It was the same protocol.

"OK, you need to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu all right?" Naruto nodded energetically. Iruka nodded. "You can start now. Do your best." finalized Iruka. _'Good luck Naruto.' _The blond nodded and went over the center of the room. He positioned himself and closed his eyes for a while. _'Here we go.' _

"Bunshin no Jutsu." said Naruto firmly. Immediately after, the room was filled with puffs of smoke. The chuunins coughed. When the smoke began to dissipate, the two men witnessed with eyes big as plates. The room was filled with Naruto clones. Mizuki's pencil had fall from his hand. _'Forty clones?' _Iruka asked himself in amazement.

"N-Naruto you..." said Iruka. "Pass!"

"All right!" shouted the blond in an explosion of pure joy. Mizuki had a somber face, he wasn't happy at all with what had just happened. _'How is this possible?' _the silver haired chuunin asked himself in disbelief. _'The last three exams he couldn't even perform one bunshin. I need to think of other plan.' _concluded Mizuki as he forced a smile.

"Here Naruto." said a very proud Iruka handing the boy his hitae-ite. "You've earned this. Now you can call yourself a ninja." Naruto took his headband like it was the most sacred thing in the whole world. He took off his goggles and tied his new hitae-ite around his forehead. _'A ninja.' _

"Thanks Iruka-sensei." said the young blond with a big smile. "Mizuki-sensei." the blond also said, trying to be respectful. Mizuki nodded, trying to stay calm.

"Now you can go have lunch. After that you're going to class where the Sandaime is going to give all of you complete ninja equipment. After that you're free to go. And remember that tomorrow you're going to be assigned to a team and meet your new sensei." Naruto nodded and went over to the door.

"And don't be late." remind Iruka to his soon-to-be ex-student. They boy chuckled.

"I'll try." said the blond as he left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto arrived at the lunch area. There were all the students that were previously called, and everyone had a headband. Some of the kids started to whisper with each others.

"What the hell, he passed?"

"It must be a joke."

"Maybe Iruka-sensei felt pity for him and passed him." Naruto didn't mind them because his attention was canalized towards an indigo haired girl with a big bowl of ramen.

"Hey there Hinata." said the blond waving at her as he approached to were she was.

"H-Hello N-Naruto-kun." said Hinata. A smile formed in her lips as she saw the headband in Naruto's forehead. "I s-see that y-you passed. Congratulations." Naruto grinned.

"Well thanks." the boy said scratching his neck. "Congratulations to you too." the blond said pointing at the hitae-ite around the girl's neck. "I knew you would pass." At this comment the girl blushed and looked to the ground. Hinata didn't know what else to say.

"I-I, uhm… w-why d-don't w-we eat?"

"Oh yeah, I'm starving." Naruto started walking towards his usual spot. He turned to see Hinata standing there, not very sure what to do.

"Are you coming?" asked the blond haired boy.

"Uhm, h-hai." Hinata said as she followed Naruto. They got under the tree and sat down. Hinata opened the recipient. It had three compartments; in the first that was the biggest was the ramen, in the second were two bowls and in the third were the chopsticks and a big spoon. The girl took the spoon and the two bowls. She started pouring the ramen in both bowls. _'Oh man, it looks delicious.' _thought Naruto, becoming impatient.

"H-Here." said the girl. The blond receive it and took a pair of chopsticks as did Hinata.

"Itadakimasu." the two of them said and with that Naruto started devouring his ramen. _'Oh Kami, I hope he likes it.'_ Naruto suddenly stopped eating and opened his eyes.

"I-Is it t-too b-bad?" asked the girl, feeling that she could die right now and right there. The blond stared at her like she had two heads.

"Bad? What are you talking about?" said the blond after he swallowed. "This is delicious!" exclaimed the blond. _'Perhaps better than Ichirakus?' _ Hinata was speechless. _'He liked it!' _

"R-Really?" the girl managed to say.

"Yeah, really. You're gonna make a great wife someday Hinata." said Naruto as he continued eating his ramen. Hinata blushed as mad. She hoped her ears weren't playing tricks on her. _'A-A great w-wife.' _She tried not to faint. They continued eating their ramen. The girl was at the middle of her first portion when the blond asked,

"Erm… May I have another bowl?" His eyes showing desperation. The girl was surprised by his eating speed.

"S-Sure." Hinata said grabbing the spoon and pouring more ramen into his cup until it was fill again.

Naruto was at his fourth bowl, and the ramen in the recipient was finishing. Hinata didn't have more than one. After she finished her bowl she looked at the blond while he was eating. Naruto had some pieces of noodles attached to his mouth. She giggled at seeing this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto finished his tenth bowl. Hinata was surprised. The boy had eaten all the ramen she had brought.

"Wow Hinata, your ramen is one of the best I've ever eaten." said the blond after putting his empty bowl down. "Thank you very much." he added with a grin.

"N-No problem." the girl said blushing. The bell rang. Naruto helped Hinata put all the utensils in the recipient and they went over to class.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they sat in their places they saw Iruka entering the class.

"I'm very proud of all of you. You all passed." Iruka said. "Now we have a very special guest." As soon as he finished saying this, the door opened. A figure entered the classroom. Some of the students gasped in admiration.

"Good evening kids." said a deep, kind voice. "I'm very glad to meet you all."

"Hokage-sama." Iruka bowed. Sarutobi was in his usual Hokage robes, behind him entered two chuunins holding big boxes.

"I'm here because I wanted to congratulate all of you for your achievements." Sandaime send a smile to the children. His gaze resting in Naruto for a moment.

"You're now genins, ninjas from Konoha no Sato. The village needs of you. And this means you have a duty." the Hokage's face was serious. "And that duty is to protect your village, and the persons that live in it." Naruto was listening to the Hokage carefully.

"You're going to be assigned missions. And they're going to be easy or extremely difficult. But you, as shinobis or kunoichis, must accomplish those missions for the good of the village." Sandaime stayed quiet for a moment.

"I have a gift for all of you." the Hokage turned to the boxes. He opened one and took out some wrapped metal things.

"I'm going to give each of you a kit of shurikens and kunai, and a hip pouch." the genins let out sounds of admiration.

"If you would come one by one, I'll give it to you personally. Then you're free to go. I'm sure your parents are waiting for you outside." the Hokage said. The children hurried and formed a line in front of the Hokage. He handed the kids their gifts. Naruto was the last in line. He was remembering all Sandaime had said. He was interrupted by the Hokage's voice.

"Naruto, don't you want your present." the blond walked over him and receive the ninja accessories.

"I'm very pleased that you are a genin now. I'm sure you're going reach great achievements." Sarutobi said with a smile. Naruto smiled.

"Thanks old man." said the blond as he left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the entrance were the genins and their parents. The adults were there to congratulate their children. They were all happy. Naruto watched as the moms and dads hugged their sons and told them that they were going to celebrate their promotion to genins. The blond surround the area and went over to train. No one was was waiting for Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**Please read and review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author****'s section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 6

Naruto had finished training. He was exhausted, as always. The fox hadn't say anything about the exam. But the blond didn't care really. The fox's training was his award. _'One step closer from being Hokage.' _Naruto took his jacket and recover the kunai and shurikens he had practiced with. When he opened his new hip pouch to put the shurikens, he found something inside it. It was a small bag. The blond boy took it out and opened it. He smiled.

"Would you look at that." said the young blond, pleased with what was in there. It was money. He counted the amount. It was more than the Sandaime usually sent him. There was also a note in it.

_Congratulations Naruto,_

_Consider this as a present for approving the exam. I expect great things from you._

_Sarutobi._

'_Well thanks.' _the blond mentally thanked. He started walking towards his home.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was walking through through the trees. He had chosen this place to practice because it was one of the farthest training grounds of the village, and no one used it. The blond didn't want anyone to observe him training.

The blond came to a halt. He had heard something. _'Maybe it's just an animal.' _He was about to continue on his way but he heard a cracking of branches. Naruto decided to investigate. He climbed to a nearby tree and jumped from branch to branch silently. He stopped when he view someone. The person was sitting down, his back against a tree. _'Mizuki?' _Effectively, it was Mizuki. He was panting and was embracing a big scroll. _'What the hell is he doing here?' _the boy wondered. _'He looks nervous.' _decided the blond. Naruto jumped from the tree he was hiding to the ground.

"Mizuki-sensei, what're you doing here?" the blond asked. The chuunin turned his head rapidly at him, he was surprised. _'What is he doing here? Where did he come from?' _Mizuki asked nervously. But he calmed down. _'Maybe I can still use him.' _

"Hello Naruto." said the silver haired man with a smile standing up.

"What're you doing here?" asked the blond suspiciously.

"I'm in a mission." responded Mizuki. He walked towards the young boy and stopped in front of him.

"A mission, eh?" asked the blond with a smirk. "What kind of mission?"

"There are some thieves that stole this scroll. The scroll contains information about an state that belongs to a very rich character in Konoha. Lord Hokage told me to take the scroll back and catch those thieves. I've retrieved the scroll but they are searching for me." Mizuki explained. _'Right.' _The blond thought.

"Would you like to help me? It would be your first mission as a genin. What do you say?" Naruto thought for a moment. _'Lets see what this is all about.' _

"Sure, why not. What do I have to do?" Mizuki grinned to himself. _'This fool bought it.'_

"I need you to take care of the scroll for me while I fight the thieves." said the silver haired man as he handed the big scroll to Naruto rather cautious. The blond took it.

"Wait for me here. I will return once I've taken care of those thieves." Mizuki said. Naruto nodded.

"All right. See you later Naruto." said Mizuki as he run through the trees. _'Good, Sandaime must have already notice that the scroll is missing, I need to blame the demon-kid for stealing the scroll and guide the ninjas in the wrong directions. Then I will meet the kid and take the scroll.' _planned the chuunin. _'Maybe I'll kill him. I'll be making a huge favor to this village.' _conclude Mizuki chuckling darkly.

Naruto watch as Mizuki disappeared in the trees.

"Now lets see what this is all about." the boy said, unfolding the scroll. His eyes widened. _'The scroll of Sealing. What is Mizuki doing with this? It must be hided and under surveillance' _the blond look at the content that was in it. _'He must have stolen it.' _Naruto concluded. The young boy stood there thinking for a moment. After a while he smiled. _'I will report this… After checking out what cool jutsus are written in here.'_

"I will take a peek." the blond said. He glanced at the scroll. "Lets see… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I think I can use this." Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Knock Knock Knock

'_Who can be?' _thought Iruka, standing up from his couch and opening the door.

"Mizuki-sensei? What are you doing here?" asked the scarred chuunin.

"It's an emergency, the scroll of Sealing has been stolen." explained Mizuki looking worried. Iruka's eyes widened.

"How can this be? Do you know who did it?" asked Iruka alarmed.

"It was stolen a few hours ago. And we know who did it." the silver haired man stopped for a moment. "…I'm afraid that it was Naruto." Iruka took a few seconds to process this information.

"N-Naruto!? Are you serious?" Mizuki nodded.

"I'm going to find him!" Iruka said as he jumped and leap from roof to roof. Mizuki stood there for a moment. He chuckled. _'Now… with the Kyubi.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'_Where the hell is he?' _wondered Iruka as he jumped in the air and landed in a huge tree. _'Where are you Naruto?' _Iruka was getting desperate. Suddenly he sensed a big amount of chakra coming from the east of the forest. He headed there to speed. When he approached he noticed some smoke rising to the night sky. But his attention was focused in an orange figure sitting in the middle of the clearing.

"There you are Naruto!" exclaimed the chuunin, approaching to Naruto.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, what's up?" the blond said, sweat dripping from his face. Iruka's veins were visible in his forehead.

"Naruto have you any idea of what you have done?" the man questioned. Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"What do ya mean?" asked Naruto, knowing what this was all about. Iruka let out a sound of irritation.

"Stealing the scroll!" shouted Iruka. Naruto's face became serious.

"So it was stolen." the blond said in a low voice.

"Why in the world did you do it?" asked Iruka, exasperated.

"I didn't steal it. It was Mizuki." Naruto said plainly. Iruka's face passed from showing rage to confusion.

"Mizuki?"

"Yep. I found him here, with the scroll. He seemed nervous. He told me to take care of the scroll while he was gone and…" Naruto stopped when he sensed something. "Sensei, watch out!" Iruka also sensed the danger, he avoided a kunai that was thrown in his direction, but he wasn't quickly enough to avoid the other ones. One kunai hit his right leg.

"Iruka-sensei, are you OK?" the spiky haired boy asked worriedly. Iruka took out the kunai that had injured him.

"I'm fine." He turned to the direction the kunai were thrown.

"Mizuki! What the hell is going on?" A chuckle was heard from the trees. Mizuki step forward, standing in a branch. He was carrying two giant shurikens in his back.

"Hey there Iruka, I see you've found the thief." Mizuki said, his gaze falling on Naruto. The blond shrugged.

"You stole the scroll, didn't you?" Iruka said, it was more an affirmation than a question.

"Yes." Mizuki said plainly.

"Why?" the scarred chuunin asked, not understanding.

"Because this will help me get more power." The silver haired chuunin said with a smile. "You know Iruka I never really liked this village, and the reason of that is the decisions the Hokage made about him. " said the chuunin pointing to Naruto, Mizuki's face was not friendly. "Konoha doesn't know the mistake they did when they accept letting him live!" Iruka knew where this conversation was going.

"Naruto, don't listen to him! He-" Iruka said worriedly but was stopped by Mizuki.

"Don't you want to know the truth, Naruto?" Mizuki asked to the boy. Naruto said nothing, he wanted to listen everything he had to say.

"You are the reason so many people died twelve years ago! You are the reason why the Yondaime died!" Mizuki's voice with anger. "You're the reason why Iruka hates you!" Naruto had maintained his composure until this sentence. He turned to see his sensei.

"Naruto don't listen to him, I don't hate you." Iruka tried to explain.

"You killed his parents, Kyubi." Naruto lowered his head and look at his hands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the Hokage tower, Sarutobi was looking at his crystal ball with a worried look.

'_Naruto now knows the truth.' _The Hokage was now worried. _'There is a possibility that the power of Kyubi get released. It all depends on you Naruto.' _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You are the Kyubi!" Mizuki shouted. He took one of his giant shurikens. "And I'm gonna do a great favor to this village before I leave." Iruka became tense. "I'm gonna kill you!" the silver haired chuunin cried as he threw the shuriken. Naruto didn't. _'Maybe I deserve to die.' _thought the blond. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact and upcoming pain. It never came.

The boy opened his eyes. What he witnessed shocked him. It was Iruka. He had received the blow for him. The shuriken had hit in his back, in the center of his chuunin vest symbol.

"I-Iruka-sensei…" the blond said. "Why?"

"Because I care for you Naruto." started the chuunin, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't blame you for what happened to my parents. It wasn't your fault." the tears started falling freely from his face.

"You need to understand that you are NOT the Kyubi." Iruka said looking at Naruto. "You are Uzumaki Naruto. Don't let anyone confuse you." Naruto kept looking at him for a moment. He was analyzing what Iruka had said. _'He's right. I'm not the Kyubi, just his damn container.' _Naruto glanced towards Mizuki. He was not happy. The bastard had hurt one of the few persons that cared for him and he cared for and he had tried to kill him. He was also angry at Kyubi for murdering Iruka's parents. But he couldn't do anything about that, and Kyubi wasn't going to apologize for what he did. He was going to canalize that rage in the person that had pissed him off.

Mizuki was laughing.

"How touching." the silver haired man mocked. "Initially I was going to kill only the demon but, since you arrived Iruka I'm gonna have to kill you tool." Mizuki chuckled. "Now, who wants to die first?" said Mizuki with an evil smile, he took the shuriken that was left. Iruka stood up with great effort and extracted the shuriken he had incrusted in his back.

"Naruto I'll distract him, you've to run."

"I won't let you." Mizuki said and threw his shuriken, Iruka did the same with the one he had. The shurikens met and repel each other. Iruka fell to the ground. He had lost a big amount of blood.

"Naruto you have to get out of here. I will keep him busy for a while so you can escape." Iruka said preparing for battle.

"No chance in hell! You're hurt. He'll kill you, you can't do this alone." Naruto said also standing up.

"Naruto this is an order, as your sensei-"

"You can't give me orders. You're not my teacher anymore. I am now a ninja." Naruto argued.

"Naruto you have to understand this is no game." Naruto turned to Mizuki who had landed in the ground and was approaching slowly.

"I know." the blond said as he walked towards Mizuki. Iruka knew that he couldn't do anything to stop Naruto. He was too stubborn.

"You think you can beat me?" Mizuki laugh.

"You know Mizuki; you did a big mistake by letting me keep the scroll." Naruto explained calmly. "I found a very interesting jutsu. And you'll be the first person I'm gonna show it to." Naruto stopped. His middle index crossed.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto said loudly and firmly. _'He must be kidding. That's a jounin level jutsu. It's impossible for a genin to perform that technique.' _Mizuki thought. Immediately after, a lot of puffs fill the air.

"What the…" Mizuki managed to say but he was cut by bunch of voices.

"So, Mizuki, any last wish?" asked hundreds of Narutos, some standing in the ground and some in trees.

"A-Amazing." Iruka said. _'Naruto was able to perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.' _

"It's impossible…" Mizuki said in disbelief.

"I present to you my kage bunshins." said the real Naruto. Unlike the bunshins you saw in the genin test, these are not illusions. they are actual copies of me. This means that I'll beat the crap out of you a thousand times." Mizuki panicked. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

"I guess your time has come." Naruto said with smile. The clones moved forward.

"No, wait, pleas, NO!" cried Mizuki. But his prayers couldn't be heard because of the sound of punches and kicks. Iruka was amazed. _'Maybe you'll get to surpass all the Hokages Naruto.'_ he thought with a proud smile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the ground was laying a pretty beaten up Mizuki, blood all over his face. Right beside him stood Naruto. All the clones were gone.

"I think you over did it." said Iruka, his back resting against a tree. Naruto scratched his head and gave him a fox-like grin.

"Nah. He deserved it." Iruka smiled.

"Lets go Naruto, it's been a long night. The sun is about to rise." Naruto nodded. The only thing he wanted was to get home and take a long nap.

"In six hours you have to come to the academy." Iruka said. Naruto grimaced. Iruka laughed. They both stopped laughing when five ANBUs and a medic-nin appeared.

"Thanks for stopping Mizuki from taking the scroll out of Konoha. That would be a disaster." an ANBU said. Naruto and Iruka nodded. "He will be taken to Konoha's jail." The other ones where picking up Mizuki's unconscious body.

"You will be send to the hospital." the ANBU said to Iruka. The medic-nin approach him and bowed.

"Please come with me." Iruka nodded and said good bye to Naruto.

" Also, the Hokage wants to see you." Naruto nodded although he really didn't want to see the Hokage. He would want to talk about the Kyubi thing. He knew that Sandaime already knew what had happened. _'Damn that crystal ball of his.' _the blond thought. He parted towards the Hokage tower.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarutobi was in his desk. Big amounts of paper arranged in columns in his desk. The door opened. A jounin came in sight and bowed respectfully.

"Hokage-same, Uzumaki Naruto is here."

"Let him in." said Sarutobi. The jounin nodded and exited the room. A short moment later Naruto entered the office. He didn't greet the Hokage as he always did. He just sat in the guest chair without saying a word.

"What are you nervous about Naruto?" asked the Hokage amused.

"I know why you want to see me." said Naruto. "It's about Kyubi right?" Sarutobi's face became serious and nodded.

"You're right Naruto." the Hokage took out his pipe and took a deep breath of it. "I was going to tell you when you were ready. But I see that you already knew." Naruto nodded. "For how long?" The blond thought for a moment.

"A month."

"How did it happen?"

"In a dream." Sarutobi took another breath of his pipe.

"I see." said the Hokage. He stood up and gazed at the village from his window.

"We've put a heavy burden upon you Naruto." Sarutobi started. "You need to understand that Yondaime sealed the Kyubi inside you because there was no other option. He needed to stop the demon and you were his last and only hope." the old man paused. Naruto was processing everything that he had said.

"Yondaime's last wish was for you to be considered a hero." Naruto raised his head at hearing this. He was confused.

"A hero? But then why all the villagers hate me?" asked Naruto.

"Because they don't understand." Sandaime said, he looked back at Naruto sadly. "They are blinded by the reason that you contain the creature that killed their loved ones. Because of the Kyubi, Yondaime lost his life, and the villagers needed someone to blame. Unfortunately they chose blame you. " Naruto lowered his head.

"But you are really a hero. Because of you, the Kyubi was stopped. Because of you, the village was saved. And because of you, Yondaime didn't die in vain."

"They think I am Kyubi." Naruto said in a low voice.

"But you aren't." Sandaime said firmly. "You must remember that. It wasn't your fault."

"Just give them time Naruto." Naruto look at the Hokage in the eyes. The old ninja had a smile in his face.

"Show them they are wrong. Earn their trust." Naruto start nodding slowly.

"I will."

"Of course you will. If not, you wont be able of be Hokage." Sandaime said with a kind smile. Naruto smiled too.

"It may be difficult. But I know you can do It." the Hokage sat again. "Now go home. Today you're going to be assigned to a team and a jounin." Naruto nodded.

"Bye old man." Naruto said as he left the office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**Please ****review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	7. Chapter 7

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Sorry for the delay. I broke one of my ribs and I was incapacitated, also the mother's day was close and I needed to find a gift for my mom, and to top it all, I am starting final exams in my school and needed to study a lot. I'll try to update every week.**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 7

Naruto was in his way to the academy. Lunch in hand. The blond seemed very, very tired, and sleepy. He had slept for almost six hours. The blond needed much more to feel fresh and awoken. When the alarm clock started to sound, he didn't want to wake up. But the thought of having a jounin sensei made him stand up.

The bond wondered if Iruka was alright. Maybe he wasn't coming to class today. He might be in the hospital.

The spiky haired boy arrived to the academy. He looked at the clock that was in a corridor.

**7:55 A.M**

He was in time. And he still got five minutes of sleep. The class was in a middle of a war, as usual. All the girls were fighting and struggling to seat besides Sasuke. Sakura and Ino were pulling each ones hair, along with other girls. It was the same every day. _'Luckily it is the last day.' _the blond told to himself.

The blond entered the classroom and went to his place. He sat down and tried to sleep, but a thought stopped him. Something was missing. What could it be? Naruto turned to his right and he knew the reason. _'Where is Hinata?' _The blond pondered. Since they started attending the academy, the girl had always been there at least fifteen minutes before Iruka entered the classroom. Not a single day she was absent.

The door opened. A tall man entered through the door. It was yesterday's chuunin, the one that had been calling the students for the genin exam.

"Good morning." said the man standing in the center of the classroom. "My name is –" He was interrupted by the door opening once more. In the door frame, stood Hinata. She bowed to the chuunin.

"I'm very sorry I'm late." she apologized. "Please excuse me." The chuunin gave her an smile and nodded. Hinata bowed again and went to her place. Naruto observed the girl. Her eyes were red, like if she had been crying.

"Hey Hinata." said the blond. "You OK?" he asked concerned.

"H-Hello N-Naruto-kun. I'm fine." Hinata responded sitting in her chair, it seemed that she didn't want to talk about that. The young blond didn't believe her but decided to let it go. It wasn't his business after all. The chuunin ehem'd.

"As I was saying. My name is Nagano Ito. I am here to assign you to your teammates and your new sensei." Ito said. The students began to whisper to each other.

"What about Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Unfortunately, Iruka-sensei wasn't in condition to come to class." explained Ito.

"What happened to him?" questioned Ino.

"He had an accident." responded the chuunin. _'He's still in the hospital.' _Naruto thought. He would pay a visit to Iruka once he exited the academy. Ito turned around and went to the desk. He grabbed some papers.

"Here are the teams that you'll be assigned. Each team will have three genins and a jounin instructor, with whom the three genins in the team will accomplish missions. The team will consist of two males and a female. " These attracted almost all the female's attention.

'_That means that a girl will have a chance of being in the same team with Sasuke-kun.' _Sakura thought.

'_Kami, please, let me be paired with Sasuke-kun.' _Ino thought. Similar prayers were being sent by all the fan girls of the Uchiha. Hinata threw a shy glance towards the blond besides her.

'_Three genins in a team, huh?' _Naruto thought._ 'As long as I'm not stuck with any annoying person I'm fine with it.'_

'_Everyone in here will just be a burden to me.' _thought the young Uchiha.

'_I would be perfect if I'm team with Hinata-chan.' _Kiba thought.

"The teams were chosen carefully according to your abilities, skills and weaknesses." explained the man.

"Lets start with team number one…"

Six teams were already chosen.

"Team seven will consist of… Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto raised his head. "… Haruno Sakura." Sakura was upset. _'I'm with the asstard.' _Naruto hung his head. _'Well, at least it cannot be worse.' _the blond thought sourly.

"… and Uchiha Sasuke." The class was filled with bunch of annoyed groans, most of them from girls, but Naruto's could be heard in all the building. _'Great! I'm with the stoic bastard and with the most annoying fan girl in existence. Why do you hate me Kami?' _Hinata turned to the blond. _'I couldn't be paired with Naruto-kun.'_ thought the young Hyuuga disappointedly.

Sasuke's face remained neutral.

"Yes!" Sakura shouted in joy.

"Why do you get to be with him!" Ino said angrily, a vein visible in her forehead.

"It was destiny." the pink haired girl said crossing her arms triumphantly. Ino mumbled something about the injustice in the world and something along those lines, but said nothing else. _'How troublesome.' _Shikamaru thought, trying to get back to sleep.

"Now with team eight." continued Ito. "Hyuuga Hinata."

"H-Hai." said Hinata, turned his attention away from the plaintive blond.

"…Inuzuka Kiba." said person threw an exultant smirk over to Naruto, but the blond was too busy with his own issues to notice.

"… and Aburame Shino." Shino just fixed his glasses.

"Team ten will be composed of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru…" Ino let out a groan of annoyance _'At least is with him and not with…'_

"…and Akimichi Choji." finished Ito. Choji seemed not to hear because he was to busy eating his chips. Ino hung her head in defeat. Shikamaru was happy to be teamed with his friend.

"That's all kids. Your jounin-senseis will be introduced to you after lunch." with that the chuunin left the classroom.

Naruto was eating his lunch in his usual spot. All the other teams were eating together to know each other better. The boy didn't want to eat with his new team; It would be Sakura idolatrizing Sasuke and Sasuke ignoring her.

The boy turned to a near building, in the window was the Uchiha eating. The spiky haired boy chuckled. That meant that Sakura was looking and calling out for Sasuke. The blond didn't care about that; all he wanted to do was to see who his new sensei was. He must be powerful; after all he was a jounin.

He turned to the recess area. There was Hinata. She was with her new teammates. Shino was eating calmly a little bit apart from the other two. Kiba was playing with Akamaru and Hinata was eating slowly. She turned towards Naruto, but turned quickly when her gazed was caught with Naruto's. The blond couldn't see the blush that was adorning her face.

'_Weird.' _was all Naruto thought as he continued eating his lunch.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were the only ones in the room. Ito told the genins that the jounins will be arriving and taking their new teams with them. Naruto had been talking with Hinata until her new sensei arrived. Before Ito left the room he said that their jounin sensei could arrive late.

"He could be late. So be patient." were his exact words. That was two hours ago.

Naruto slept for an hour. He could have slept more if it wasn't for Sakura's complains.

"Where is he?" said the pink haired girl irritated. "He should have been here two hours ago!"

"Ito said he would be late." Naruto said annoyed. "Now would you shut up?"

"No one asked you baka." Sakura snapped. Naruto smirked but said nothing else. He stood up and stretched. The blond turned to the board and notice that there was a pair of erasers. He smiled.

"What are you doing?" asked the pink haired girl. The blond has dragged a chair to climb over it, he was putting an eraser in the door frame, if anyone opened the door, the eraser would fall in his/her head.

"That's what he gets for getting late." the blond responded. He put the chair over its original place, went over to one seat and sat down.

"No respectable jounin would fall for a trick like that." the Uchiha said in a bored-like tone.

"Yes Naruto, Sasuke-kun is right." At that exact moment someone opened the door. The eraser fell freely on top of the person's head, bounced and fell to the floor. Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"Gomenasai sensei, I tried to stop him but he didn't listen." apologized Sakura hurriedly.

The man was wearing a jounin vest. He had a mask all around his mouth and nose, grey hair, and part his hitae-ite was covering his left eye. He picked up the eraser and looked at it for a moment.

"My first impression of you… I hate you." the jounin said. _'I like this guy.' _the blond thought.

"Meet me at the terrace of the building." said the man disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"All right, why don't you introduce yourselves." the grey haired man said sitting over the rail of the rooftop.

"Uhm, what are we suppose to say?" asked Sakura, sitting in the stairs along with Naruto and Sasuke.

"Your likes, hates, dreams, hobbies… something like that." the man said.

"Why don't you show us how to do it?" Naruto said.

"OK. My name is Hatake Kakashi; I don't feel like telling you my likes or dislikes… I don't really have any hobbies or dreams." Kakashi said lazily. _'He just revealed us his name.' _Sakura thought unsatisfied.

"Your turn." Kakashi said pointing towards Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, dislike annoying people… oh, and I wanna be Hokage." added the blond as an afterthought. _'Uzumaki Naruto eh? He has grown in an interesting way. '_ the jounin thought.

"Interesting… now with you."

"I'm Haruno Sakura." the pink haired girl started. "I like… the boy I like…" Sakura turned over to Sasuke a few times, she released a high pitchy sound. _'She's more focused in her crush on Sasuke than in being a ninja.' _the jounin analyzed.

"And what do you hate?"

"Naruto." Sakura responded immediately, her dreaming tone gone. Naruto chuckled.

"Right. Next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like very few things, and hate lots of things." the Uchiha said monotony. "I don't have a dream, I have an ambition that will become true; the revival of my clan and killing a certain man." the dark haired boy finished with venom in his voice. Everyone knew what he was talking about. The semi-total annihilation of the Uchiha clan, executed by Sasuke's brother: the infamous Uchiha Itachi.

'_As expected.' _Kakashi thought. Naruto and Sakura stayed quiet. Sakura was thinking of how cool Sasuke was. Naruto didn't think of anything.

"Right. We are now team seven. That means that we're going to start doing missions together." Kakashi said after a period of silence. The genins stayed quiet.

"Tomorrow we'll begin our first mission."

"And what it will consist of?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Survival training." Kakashi responded.

"Training? I thought it was a mission." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, we had plenty of training in the academy." the green eyed girl said.

"This is no ordinary training."

"Then what kind of training it is?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi smiled under his mask, he wanted to see the reaction of his team when he said this.

"It is more like another exam." Kakashi said seriously. "Out of the 27 genins that graduated, only 9 are going to become genins. The rest will be send back to the academy. It is a test that I will apply and determine if you are fit to be genins." the genins became tense. Sasuke had a serious expression on his face, Naruto was thoughtful and Sakura was confused and nervous.

"Wait a minute! What of the graduation exam we did? Didn't it mean anything?" Sakura asked confused.

"It just picks out the ones who are qualified to become genin." Kakashi said flatly. "Anyways, tomorrow I'm gonna determine whether you pass or fail."

'_I need to pass another test if I wanna become a genin huh? This'll be interesting.' _Naruto thought with a smile. Kakashi saw the blond smile.

'_He's not afraid nor nervous.' _the jounin thought intrigued.

'_I can't fail this this test. If I do, I'll be separated form Sasuke-kun. I must pass.' _was what Sakura thought.

'_I need to become stronger, I can't go to the academy again, it will just delay my revenge. I shall continue.' _The thoughts of the kids were interrupted by the grey haired jounin voice.

"Meet me tomorrow with your ninja equipment and lunch at training ground number seven at 5:00 A.M." Kakashi said standing up. "Oh and, if you don't want to throw up, don't eat breakfast." he added as an afterthought. Sakura and Sasuke tensed up at this. Naruto smirked. _'Yeah right. There is no way in hell I miss breakfast.' _

"You can go now." Kakashi said but was stopped by the blond.

"Sensei, are you going to be late." Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Cya later." said the jounin waving and disappearing in a puff of smoke. Naruto smiled. _'If he can get late, so can I.' _The kids parted.

"I would like to see Iruka-sensei please." Naruto said to a nurse behind a desk. The nurse seemed to hesitate but she couldn't deny a visit to someone that was getting release today.

"Off course, he is in…" she looked in some papers that were in her desk. "Room 105, to get there you need to get to the second floor and turn left, in the last room." the nurse said, trying to sound polite. Naruto thanked and went over to the stairs; he ignored the looks of hate that were being thrown at him while he walked through the corridors. He got to the second floor and turned left.

**Room 105**

**Umino Iruka**

The blond entered the door.

"Naruto, Hello." Iruka greeted. He was sitting in the edge of his bed. His chuunin vest was on top of a desk besides his bed. Naruto stepped forward.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, how ya doing?" the boy said with a smile. He sat in the guest chair.

"I'm fine, I'm getting released today at 8:00 P.M." the scarred chuunin said with a smile. He was happy that Naruto has come by. Naruto and the Sandaime were the only ones that had come to visit him. Although some of his students would have come too if they knew he was in the hospital.

"Today was the team selection right?" the blond nodded.

"Who were you teamed with?" Iruka asked intrigued.

"You don't know?" Naruto asked. Iruka shook his head.

"The team's papers are given to me directly by the Sandaime in the day I have to announce them. I went directly to the hospital after our battle with Mizuki. So someone had to replace me." Iruka explained.

"Well… I was paired with Uchiha and Sakura." Naruto said without enthusiasm.

"Oh." Iruka knew that Naruto didn't like those two. "Well, I hope you get along with them." Naruto smirked.

"And who is your new sensei?" Iruka asked concerned. It was kind of hard. He's been sensei of Naruto for four years, and now he was a ninja who had a new sensei.

"Hatake Kakashi." Naruto responded. Iruka's face was now serious. He hadn't expected that.

"Is something wrong?" the blond asked at seeing his expression.

"No, just a bit tired." Iruka responded trying to hide his uneasiness. The blond nodded.

"I have to go Iruka-sensei. Bye." the spiky haired boy said standing up.

"Bye Naruto." the blond waved his hand and left the room. Iruka was left very thoughtful.

'_I need to talk to the Hokage.' _

Naruto was paying his monthly amount of ramen. He then went over to his apartment and set the bags in a desk. The blond put the numerous cups of instant ramen in his fridge and hurried to his training spot.

'Training time fox!' the blond shouted mentally. He could hear Kyubi awaken.

"**Alright kit, lets get started."**

**Author's section.**

**I'll try to update as soon as I can. **

**Please review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author****'s section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Sorry for the delay, I was busy with the school. Also… I don't have braces any more**** and… Tomorrow I'll be 15! XD**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**I want to make this clear. I am not from an English speaking coun****try, so it is possible that I make a lot of mistakes in my chapters. One of the reasons I create this story was to improve my English and vocabulary. I apologize for that and I will try to write as perfect as possible, like I have always done. That's it.**

**Now with the story****.**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 8

Naruto was in his way to training ground number 7. His eyes were half closed and he was dragging his feet better than walking. He woke up at four fifty flat. It was the first day he had woken up this early. All his body ached from last night's training.

Naruto ignored what Kakashi said yesterday, he ate one cup of ramen for breakfast. The young boy was almost a hundred percent sure that his new sensei will be late. He planned to get there at least half an hour later but what if he got there on time? He couldn't afford failing the exam that will really determine if he could be a genin if he was late. The blond yawned and tightened his grip in his lunch box that almost slipped his hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The spiky haired blond arrived to the training ground. There were his two new teammates. Sakura was talking to Sasuke; apparently not noticing that the Uchiha was ignoring her. Naruto glanced over the surroundings. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. Naruto let out a frustrated sigh. _'At least I get to sleep while he arrives.' _thought to blond.

"Well good morning Naruto." Sakura greeted in a mocking tone. "I didn't imagine it was possible for you to wake up this early."

"Me neither." Naruto said without looking at her. He was too tired to discuss with her. The blond went over to a tree, lay down, and closed his eyes. The blond was soon sleeping.

After half an hour, Sasuke also went over to a tree and sat down.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want me to join you?"

"No." responded the Uchiha flatly.

"Oh." the girl said, she was disappointed. _'He is just nervous about the exam.' _thought Sakura. She went towards the tree that was next to Sasuke and sat down. Team seven waited for Kakashi to arrive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Five hours later)

A puff of smoke appeared near the genins. Sasuke got to his feet, followed by an infuriated Sakura. Naruto just opened one eye. The smoke evaporated, revealing Kakashi.

"Yo!" said the grey haired man, waving a salute with his right hand, in his left he was carrying an alarm clock. His visible eye crinkled, showing he was smiling.

"You're late!" Sakura said, pointing an accusing finger towards his sensei. The jounin scratched his neck.

"Well you see… a black cat crossed my path, so I must-"

"Save it." the blond interrupted standing up and stretching. Kakashi chuckled.

"Anyways…" Kakashi walked over three stumps in the middle of the clear. He put the alarm clock on top of the stump in the middle.

"Your test will consist of taking these from me." explained the jounin showing two small bells in his hand.

"Whoever can't will have no lunch. I will tie you to one of those stumps and eat lunch in front of you." Sakura grunted. _'So that's why he said not to eat breakfast.' 'Well, he has imagination.' _the blond thought with a smirk.

"Also, the one who can't get a bell will fail the exam and therefore, sent back to the academy." Kakashi said in a somber tone.

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells, and we are three." Sakura protested.

"How observant." mumbled the blond. His comment irritated Sakura but before she could say anything, Kakashi interrupted.

"Being only two bells means that at least one of you will fail." the jounin said seriously. "But it could also be possible that none of you pass." the kids tensed.

"This is not like the academy. To pass you need to get serious. You'll be able to use your shurikens and kunai."

"But that's too dangerous sensei!" the pink haired girl protested.

"The life of a ninja is full of dangers Sakura." replied Kakashi in a serious tone. The pink haired girl said nothing else.

"You've got until twelve o'clock." Kakashi pressed a button of the clock. "We will start when I say 'go'" said the jounin. "On your marks… get set..-" He was interrupted by Naruto who run towards him and launched a kick to his face. Kakashi blocked his kick, grab his arm and bend it backwards, immobilizing the blond. _'He's fast.' _thought the blond.

"I didn't say go yet." the jounin said in a low tone. Sakura and Sasuke stepped backward. _'I couldn't see him move.' _thought Sakura. _'So this is a jounin.' _Sasuke thought warily.

"Well, at least you're motivated now." Kakashi said, still holding the blond. Naruto smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"Go!" shouted Kakashi before disappearing in a puff of smoke. At this, the children leapt to their hiding places to prepare themselves.

'_I need to figure a way to get the bells.' _thought Naruto from his hiding place. He analyzed the surroundings. He stopped when he saw the river. The boy smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Sandaime Hokage and Iruka were sitting in on one of the dinner tables of the Hokage tower. Iruka had asked to grant him a meeting with the Sandaime. The Hokage took a sip from his tea and waited for Iruka to talk. Finally, Iruka opened his mouth.

"Hokage-same, I need to talk about team seven's sensei." started Iruka. The old man already knew what he wanted to talk about.

"What would you want to know?" asked the third.

"I've heard rumors about his jounin sensei, that he was very strict in his tests… Is it true?" Iruka said in a worried voice. The Hokage took another sip of tea. He took a green book from his robes and put it in the table.

"What is this?" asked Iruka intrigued.

"This book contains the list of the students that Kakashi has failed and passed." explained the Hokage. Iruka took the book and opened. What he read alarmed him.

"He… hadn't passed any student." Iruka stated astonished. The Hokage nodded.

"His tests may be a little difficult, yes." Sarutobi said. "But he had good reasons to fail all the students he applied the test." Iruka still seemed troubled.

"Kakashi…" continued the old man. "… He is a good ninja. In fact, he's one of the greatest ninja Konoha possesses. Don't worry Iruka." Iruka looked at him.

"Naruto will be fine." concluded the old man convinced.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi was lying against a tree near a small river. He was reading a small orange book. The masked jounin had already localized the hiding places of the three kids. _'Everyone is hidden nicely, good. Now, who's going to attack first?' _wonder the grey haired jounin turning a page from his book.

Two shurikens were thrown from the top of a tree. They were directed towards Kakashi. Kakashi continued reading his book and seemed he didn't notice. When the shurikens were about to hit their target, they were stopped. Kakashi grabbed them both with two of his fingers in the openings the weapons had in the center.

"You have revealed your position by throwing shurikens at me, Naruto." said the grey haired jounin, still reading his book. Naruto jumped from his hiding spot and landed in the ground.

"I know." the blond said, walking towards his sensei. "But I bet you already knew our hiding places." he stated with a smile. The grey haired jounin smiled under his mask. He closed his book and stood up.

"Approaching directly towards your opponent is not a good idea." Kakashi said. Naruto stopped at ten feet from the jounin and took his fighting stance.

'_What the hell is he doing?' _thought Sakura under a bush. _'He doesn't have a chance against him.' _

'_That idiot. He just wants to show of.' _scolded Sasuke from the top of a tree.

"Maybe, but I'm gonna take those bells from you anyway." the boy said with a confident smile.

"I'm going to show one of the tree tactics a ninja must know: Taijutsu." after he said this, Kakashi opened his book and started reading again. The blond send him a questioning look.

"Are you gonna fight while you read?" asked the blond a bit confused. The jounin nodded.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto said furiously as he ran towards Kakashi who continued reading his book. The blond jumped and launch a punch towards Kakashi's face. Kakashi easily blocked it. The boy continued throwing punches and kicks savagely and the grey haired jounin continued to block and evade all his attacks reading his book. _'He lacks of tactic and equilibrium. He's just trying to hit with all his strength.' _Kakashi analyzed.

"You're never gonna hit me if you continue fighting like that." the man said. This only made Naruto more furious.

"Shut up!" he shouted. The blond continued to throw punches and kicks like mad; this made the jounin take a few steps back. The fight continued like this for one more minute, but it seemed that the blond was tired. Naruto stopped. He took a couple steps back while he gathered his breath.

"Tired already?" Kakashi teased, his eyes never left the book. "I thought you said you were going to take the bells from me." the boy stopped panting and ran forward again. He jumped into the air and threw a quick. When Kakashi was going to block it he felt someone embracing him from the back. The Naruto that was in the air smiled.

The jounin turned to see what was behind him. His eyes widened. It was another Naruto! _'But… how?' _Sakura and Sasuke were asking the same question.

'_A bunshin? No, it is real. That means it is a kage bunshin.' _Kakashi concluded, finding it hard to believe. He needed to act fast.

'_Wow.' _thought Sakura. _'What technique is that? How did he do it?' _Sasuke asked to himself.

Just as Naruto's foot was about to make contact with Kakashi's face, he turned into a log. _'Damn it' _thought the blond._ 'A kawarimi.' _

Naruto couldn't stop his foot and he hit the other Naruto hard, making him disappear in a puff of smoke. The blond swore under his breath. _'I should've just taken the goddamn bells instead of trying to hit him.' _

'_He sent a kage bunshin to the river where I couldn't detect him, the clone got into the water and came swimming where we were fighting. He also led me closer to the river so it was easier for the clone to get me.' _Kakashi thought from his hiding place, he was impressed. _'Did he also fake his fighting style?' _wondered the jounin.

'_Where did he go?' _Naruto asked himself. Kakashi had disappeared. _'There he is.' _the boy threw a kunai in the direction of a near tree. Kakashi landed in the ground with the kunai in hand.

"I must admit I'm impressed. You tricked me." said the jounin. Naruto smiled, he turned to face him. "But two can play the same game." Kakashi finished.

"Huh?" Naruto said in confusion.

"Behind you." spoke a voice from behind the boy. The spiky haired boy turned. _'What the hell, a kage bunshin?' _Indeed, a second Kakashi was kneeling behind him with his hand in the tiger seal.

'_That seal is for fire elements.' _Sasuke thought.

'_What is he gonna..?'_

"Sennen Goroshi!" Then he felt it. The poor boy had no time to react. Kakashi had just poked him in the butt.Naruto shouted from the pain and was send into the air. He landed in the ground pretty hard on an ungraceful pose. _'That hurt like hell.' _thought Naruto.

The jounin took out his book again. "You shouldn't let your guard down." Kakashi lectured while he turned one page. Naruto just groaned.

'_Now!' _Sasuke thought grabbing his weapons.

"You need to be more alert Naru-" the grey haired jounin couldn't finish.Various shurikens and kunai came flying towards him and hit him. Sakura gasped. _'Sasuke-kun managed to hit him.' _The Uchiha smiled. _'I got him.' _His face passed from satisfaction to shock. Kakashi transformed in a log yet again.

'_Another kawarimi.' _the black haired boy deduced. _'He let his guard down on purpose. It was a trap.' _Sasuke leapt from branch to branch quickly. _'Now he knows my location.' _As soon as Sasuke started moving, Sakura went after him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto got to his feet with difficulty.

"Damn it." said the boy. In his mind he heard a deep voice chuckle.

"**You should have used your full potential kit." **said the demon.

"Shut up you stupid fox." spat the boy. Kyubi chuckled again. "Besides, I think that this test is not about getting the bells." Naruto said thoughtfully. The fox cocked an eyebrow.

"**What do you mean?" **Naruto didn't respond and started moving. _'I need to get the others.' _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi was hiding behind some bushes. He was waiting for the young Uchiha to ambush him. _'There he is.' _thought the jounin as he saw Sasuke pass rapidly. Kakashi was about to move but something else caught his attention.

Sakura was approaching the spot were Kakashi was, apparently looking for the dark haired boy. _'I think I'm going to go after her first.' _the grey haired ninja thought disappearing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura was running through the forest, looking for Sasuke. _'Where is he? Has Kakashi-sensei already reached him?' _thought the worried girl. The pink haired girl came to a halt. Ahead was Kakashi, calmly reading his book. _'What is he doing there?' _thought the girl.

"Sakura, behind you." said girl tensed. She turned nervously and gasped. There was Kakashi making rat hand sign, then the pink haired girl found herself in the middle of leaves spinning around her. It was like a dream.

When Sakura awoke from her daze, it had darkened and she was alone.

"Huh?" said the green eyed girl disorientated. _'What happened?' _she asked. Then she remembered Kakashi being there.

"Where is sensei? What is going on? Where's Sasuke-kun?" started asking the girl to no one.

"Sakura." a big smile spread in Sakura's face.

"Sasuke-kun?" called the girl happily. Sasuke appeared from behind a tree. He was bleeding from various wounds, shurikens and kunai sticking out from his body.

"Sakura, help me." he pleaded weakly. The pink haired girl just stared at him. She was in the border of tears. It was like a nightmare.

Before she fell unconscious on the ground, she screamed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto heard the scream. He was jumping from branch to branch. _'That's Sakura.' _he thought. The blond changed his direction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke heard Sakura scream also. _'That must be Sakura. It sounded close. That means…' _

"Genjutsu." said a voice from behind him. Sasuke didn't bother turning. _'Genjutsu, eh? An hallucination technique were the user can make the opponent see what he wants him to see.' _the Uchiha thought.

"Sakura fell for it easily." Kakashi said. He was lying against a tree, reading his book, as usual.

"Hn. I'm different from them." the dark haired boy said confidently. Kakashi stood up.

"Well, prove it." he said facing Sasuke.

The young Uchiha and the jounin prepared for battle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sakura?" asked Naruto pocking her with a stick. "Wake up." Sakura woke up slowly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You were unconscious." Naruto responded with an unconcerned tone. The girl hadn't noticed him.

"Naruto! What are you doing here?" she asked, standing up quickly.

"I heard you scream, what happened?" said the blond. Sakura concentrate and tried to remember what happened.

"I saw sensei behind me and then everything went fuzzy. And I heard…" Sakura gasped. "Sasuke-kun!" the blond cocked an eyebrow.

"He was badly injured! We need to help him!" said Sakura worriedly.

"Sasuke-kun please don't die!" shouted the girl as she began running.

Naruto sighed and followed her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond had reached Sakura. They had been running for ten minutes now. They came to a halt. The kids had heard something. It seemed like a battle.

"What wa-"

"Shh." Naruto silenced her. He jumped and landed on a branch for a better view. Sakura stayed in the ground.

"What is it?" asked the girl in a low tone. The blond didn't answer. Some feet ahead, were Kakashi and Sasuke fighting. The blond saw how the Uchiha did a fire technique and Kakashi disappeared. _'He can perform fire techniques already, huh?' _thought the blond. Then, a hand appeared from underneath the ground, grabbed one of his legs and dragged the boy underground leaving only the head above.

'_That's an interesting technique.' _thought the blond. Kakashi had just disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Sasuke alone. Naruto landed in the ground.

"So?" asked the pink haired girl expectantly. Naruto had a serious face.

"I don't know how to say this." started the blond. Sakura leaned forward. The blond took a deep breath.

"I'm afraid that Sasuke has been… beheaded." finished Naruto. Both were silent for a moment. Then Sakura exploded.

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THAT? TELL ME WHAT REALLY HAPPENED YOU LITTLE-" Sakura shouted, poking Naruto with her finger. The blond had an straight face.

"If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself. Follow me Sakura." said the blond calmly walking towards Sasuke's directions. Sakura didn't know what to think. But she needed to find Sasuke so she followed me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke was thinking of a way to get out of his situation. _'Damn it, we are this different…?' _his thoughts were interrupted by a feminine voice shouting. _'That must be Sakura again.' _thought the boy. _'And if she's that pissed off, that means Naruto is with her.' _

Not much after he heard her voice, Sakura came to view. It was like she had seen a ghost. For the second time that day, Sakura fell unconscious. The Uchiha cocked an eyebrow. _'What's wrong with her.' _He heard someone else approaching. He could deduce it was Naruto, and he was roaring with laughter.

"Priceless." said the blond. He was bent and grabbing his stomach from the laughter. He slowly calmed down and focused on Sasuke.

"Sasuke, how's it going?" asked the blond with a smile. The Uchiha grunted.

"Shut up, dobe. And help me out." said the boy. Naruto stood there in a thoughtful pose.

"Hmm I don't know."

"Naruto!" Sasuke said exasperated. The blond laughed.

"All right, all right. But first, I need to tell you something." Naruto said approaching towards him.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"You do realize that we can't get those bells on our owns." said the blond seriously.

"Hn. Maybe you can't, but I can. I touch one of the bells earlier, next time I'll get one." spat the dark haired boy.

"C'mon, Uchiha. Kakashi's not using his full potential. Not even his ten percent." Naruto said annoyed.

"Hn." was all the Uchiha said.

"If we don't want to return to the academy, we need to work together. That includes Sakura." he added when he saw Sakura awakening.

"So what do ya say?" asked the blond.

"Hn." was all Sasuke said.

"I'll take that as a yes." said the blond with a smirk.

"Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura after awakening completely. "Are you OK?" she asked approaching to him.

"Yeah, Yeah. Just get me outta here!" said the Uchiha. After a couple of minutes, Sasuke out of the ground and Naruto informed Sakura they needed to work together.

"So what are we going to do?" asked the girl, sitting besides Sasuke.

"We need to make a plan." said the blond. "This won't be easy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kawarimi Substitution.

Sennen Goroshi Thousand years of pain.

**Author's section****.**

**I'll try to update as soon as I can. **

**Please ****review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**I know I know… It's been a long time. But a lot of things has happened, that were priority in my life. Also I broke my arm… But I really wanted to continue with this story.**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 9

Kakashi was standing in the middle of the clear where he fought Naruto a while ago. He was waiting for any of the kids to attack him. In approximately fifteen minutes, the alarm clock would announce noon. _'They're taking too long.' _thought the ninja. _'Are they planning something?' _pondered the grey haired man.

Kakashi turned towards the location he left the Uchiha. He sensed four presences approaching rapidly. _'They decided to work together.' _thought Kakashi a little impressed, he didn't thought Sasuke would accede to work together. He closed his tiny book and put it in his pouch, he knew that he couldn't read and fight at the same time against the young Uchiha. He waited for them to arrive.

Sasuke, Sakura and two Narutos came to view. The kids surrounded the jounin.

"This time we're gonna get the bells, sensei." Naruto said confidently.

"I'd like to see that." Kakashi said. The kids launched towards Kakashi immediately, they knew they hadn't much time left. Punches and kicks were thrown at Kakashi, but he blocked them without much difficulty.

Kakashi planned on focusing his attention on Sasuke, who he thought was the greatest threat among the kids, but he found himself with a much quicker Naruto who had an advanced taijutsu. _'He's fighting better than our last encounter.' _thought Kakashi. But still, nothing he couldn't manage.

'_They're trying to tire me out.' _Evaluate Kakashi after a while. He also noticed another thing.

'_We have been fighting for more than five minutes and Naruto's kage bunshin is still here.' _thought the grey haired man impressed. Suddenly, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto backed away a bit, leaving only the Naruto clone against Kakashi. Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. The clone gained speed and tried to punch Kakashi in the face, the man blocked it by grabbing his fist. Then the boy threw his other fist, and Kakashi blocked again.

"At this pace the clock will set off and you would be sent back to the academy." The grey haired ninja said. Naruto smiled. The earth beneath Kakashi shattered, the jounin's eyes widened in shock.

"What-" two hands emerged from the ground and grabbed Kakashi from both of his ankles with a strong grip. _'Another clone.' _Kakashi thought. He was going to try and get free when he heard Sasuke's voice.

"Katon - Goukakyuu no Jutsu.*" said the Uchiha right behind Naruto.

Kakashi noticed that he was still holding Naruto's hands. Seeing that Sasuke was very close and that he couldn't escape, he let go of Naruto's hands immediately and put his arms protectively in front of his body.

The flames came out of Sasuke's mouth; reaching the clone and making it disappear in a puff of smoke. The flames continued its way until impacting Kakashi. The jounin felt the increasing heat over his arms but resisted. He also noticed that this jutsu was less intense than the one Sasuke had launched at him a while ago.

After a few seconds the flames stopped, leaving Kakashi's arms leaking smoke. The ninja opened his eyes and he looked at his arms. They were burned, but nothing that serious. He looked up to the group; Sasuke was in front of him, he had a satisfactory smile in his face, Sakura was looking at the Uchiha in admiration and Naruto… the grey haired jounin looked around, he turned and found Naruto behind him with a huge fox-like grin adorning his face. Kakashi lowered his eyes to see what he was holding.

His right hand was slightly burned, and it was holding both bells. In the distance, the alarm clock announced noon.

'_Impressive.' _thought the jounin. _'He took advantage of Sasuke's attack and came at me rapidly while I was immobilized.' _Kakashi smiled at the blond.

"You did well." started Kakashi. "All of you." he said turning to the other two. "But now, one of you will have to let without a bell." said the grey haired ninja plainly. He waited to see what would the kids do next. Sasuke went over to Naruto and extended his hand.

"Give one to me, Naruto." said the boy. "I don't care which one of you will take the other bell, but if anyone is going to become a genin, it will be me." the Uchiha said in an arrogant tone. Sakura came quickly over to the blond.

"If someone is going to accompany Sasuke-kun, it is me." the pink haired girl said in a high pitchy tone.

Kakashi was analyzing closely the children behavior and words. Now it all depended on the Kyubi container. To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto smirked and threw the bells over to him. The grey haired jounin caught them easily and waited for the others to react.

Sasuke and Sakura stared in shock. Did Naruto really do that? The Uchiha was the first to recover.

"Dobe!" said the black haired boy launching at the blond and grabbing him by his jacket. "What the hell was that for?" His voice contained anger.

"Yeah! Now we're going back to the academy you idiot!" Sakura scolded, a vein popped on her forehead. Naruto began to chuckle.

"Don't you get it?" asked the blond. The other two just kept staring at him. "Have you ever heard of a ninja team with only two members? Why do you think they paired us in a group of three?" Naruto smiled at the blank faces his comrades had.

"Anyone?" asked the blond playfully.

"It was all about teamwork." responded Kakashi, approaching the trio. Sakura gasped. Sasuke let go of Naruto's jacket.

"It was the only objective of this test." continued the grey haired man. "It didn't matter if you got the bells or not. The only thing that mattered was that you worked together."

"But then, why are there only two bells, sensei. I mean, that will create a group conflict." Sakura asked after a while.

"Exactly. The test tries to put you three against each other." Kakashi explained. "Genins need to put teamwork first before themselves. It seems that Naruto was the only one to notice this." Kakashi smiled at the blond. Naruto returned his smile and scratched his neck. The Uchiha glared at the blond.

"You pass." Kakashi said to the group with a smile. Sakura and Sasuke let out a sigh of relief, Naruto grinned.

"Although you failed at putting the team before yourselves, you worked as a team earlier. That's enough for me. I hope you'll grow closer as a team." the grey haired man said. The kids nodded.

"Now you're genins and you belong to team seven. Congratulations." Kakashi said happily. Naruto jumped up and down happily while Sasuke returned to his cool demeanor and Sakura congratulated Sasuke.

"You know, you're the first ones that I ever pass. The previous kids just listened to what I said." Kakashi said turning to leave.

"We'll start doing missions tomorrow. You can eat lunch now, wherever you want. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to the hospital. This hurts." the grey haired ninja said pointing at his burned arms. The kids turned to get their lunches and eat.

"Oi, Naruto." Called Kakashi. The blond turned. "Don't you want to take a look at your burn too?" The blond looked down at his hand. It hurt, but it wasn't much of a problem. The pain was fading at an abnormal pace, due to the fox's healing powers.

"Nah." He shrugged. "It's not that serious." His new sensei nodded, knowing that Naruto was a special case. He turned, waving goodbye. Naruto turned to get his lunch along with the other two.

"You know sensei is right." said Sakura, her new teammate. "You should go to the hospital to treat that burn." Naruto sighed. This was going to be rather interesting and rather annoying team. He thought while the girl was still scolding. When Sakura realized that her words fell on deaf ears she let it go.

Since Sakura and Sasuke didn't have breakfast, they ate voraciously. As for Naruto, anytime was a good time to eat. The trio ate in silence, except for Sakura's failed intents for making her crush start a conversation with her, much to the Naruto's amusement. The boys split up shortly after they finished eating.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was walking through the streets of the village. He was in a good mood and couldn't stop smiling. Now that he was a genin and didn't have to go to the academy anymore, he didn't have anything to do. His training session was always in the late afternoon, and he guessed he could train earlier. But first he wanted to rest a while. It was almost 1:00 o'clock and he wanted to rest a bit. Yeah he will be training early today, but he had no rush.

The blond headed to the Hokage Mountain. He has always liked that spot; it had a nice view and was quiet and calm. Sometimes on weekends he would go there, lay down and enjoy one of the few places people couldn't bother him.

He climbed the stairs and reached the top. Beautiful flowers could be seen in every direction and of all colors. The flowers made the atmosphere smell very good. He was going to lie under a tree when he noticed someone sitting on the swing set of the children amusements that faced the city, making it a perfect spot to witness the big and lively village. The figure was familiar and he decided to approach and see who it was.

"Hey Hinata." said the blond as soon as he recognized who she was. The girl gasped and almost fell from her swing at the sound of Naruto's voice. She seemed tired, and her clothes were all dirty.

"H-Hi Naruto-kun." greeted the purple haired girl. "I-I didn't n-noticed you." She said shyly. The blond smiled, which made her blush a bit.

"How did your test go?"

"We p-passed."

"That's great!" Naruto shouted. Making the girl jump a bit. "Now we're both genin." Hinata nodded and smiled. Which, for some unknown reason, made him smile.

"H-Hai."

"What did your test consisted about?" asked the blond eagerly sitting on another swing next to her. Hinata was getting more nervous at every second.

"W-we had to p-pass a survival t-test." She said. "It w-was really h-hard." She said, remembering all the problems her new sensei made them pass through.

"Cool, we had fight for two bells from our sensei had in his belt. He is really strong. But the main point in the test was to work as a team." Naruto explained with enthusiasm. The girl just listened carefully at him. Not wanting to miss anything he said, as he talked about how he fought his sensei, and how Sasuke was buried on the ground. She always thought that after graduating from the academy, she was never going to be able to see Naruto anymore.

"So, what are you doing here?" asked the blond after he finished with his story.

"I w-wanted to t-think a b-bit, and I've a-always like this place." Responded the Hyuuga, looking at the village.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know I was interrupting you." Said the blond as he stood up. Hinata panicked, thinking she might have hurt him.

"No please." She called, as she seized of his arm. Naruto stopped, feeling weird at the contact of her soft hand against his skin. She noticed she was holding his arm and quickly let go, turning a deep shade of red that no one could find it possible. Luckily for her, they were under lots of big trees, so it was hard for Naruto to see her blushing on the shadow.

"I-I d-don't m-mind y-you are h-here." She said, her head lowered, trying not to stutter but failing miserably. The blond shook his head trying to get rid of that weird feeling.

"Uhm, sure." He said, taking a sit in the swing again. There was an uncomfortable silence between them.

"So… may I ask what you were thinking?" said the jinchuriki, breaking the silence. Loud as he was, he couldn't stand the silence.

"W-well…" she started, not fully recovered from what happened. "I w-was thinking t-that maybe… t-that maybe i-I'm not r-ready for b-being a n-ninja." Hinata closed her eyes, not knowing how Naruto would react at what she had said.

"Why would you think that?" asked the blond.

"I-Is j-just… I-I don't want to b-be a b-burden." the girl was having a difficult time. "I d-don't want t-to get in e-everyone's path." Naruto jumped from his seat. Surprising the girl.

"Who told you that?" demanded the blond angrily. "Who said that you were a burden? 'Cause, Hinata, you're not! You are just as good as anyone else."

"B-but, everyone's s-strong, and I-I'm w-weak I don't think i-I could e-ever get to b-be strong."

"How can you say that?! Everyone is born with the same possibilities; you just have to push yourself to the limit. If you want to get strong just train." Naruto couldn't believe that Hinata saw herself in that way.

"B-but I h-have trained. And s-still…"

"Well, you just have to train more, and try harder. You think that anyone would be powerful without training? No, Hinata. You just have to trust yourself. Don't let anyone tell you you're weak. You can be as good as anybody else, even better." The blond stood in front of her, staring at Hinata with his blue eyes. She couldn't believe it. Naruto was in front of her, telling her that she was not weak. Contradicting everything her father, the elders and her cousin have been telling her since she was a baby. What Naruto had said was true. It just felt different with Naruto. She felt safer and confident around him. The blond said she could be strong, and she believed him. Because she trusted him.

"I-I'm sorry." She apologized. "I s-shouldn't have s-said that. I-It's just, after y-years of h-hearing everyone t-that surrounds m-me telling me that i-I'm weak, looking d-down at me… I began t-to feel useless." The girl was talking with her head low, she had a sad face and she was remembering every time her family has looked her as a disgrace to the Hyuuga clan.

Naruto just looked at her. At first he was angry that the girl thought of herself like that, but after hearing that her own family made her feel useless, made him sick. He always thought of a family as a place where you can feel safe, where everyone loves you. No wonder Hinata was always ashamed of her abilities.

"You're saying, your own family considers you as a shame?" asked Naruto, incredulous. The girl nodded.

"Well, you'll just have to prove them wrong, won't you?" said the blond. Hinata raised his head.

"Promise me that you are going to prove them wrong, and that you are never going to give up, no matter what they say. Ok, Hinata?" Hinata just stared at him, wondering how he could always make her feel different about herself. How could he trust her, more than she has ever trust herself. Hinata smiled.

"I promise, Naruto-kun." Replied the young Hyuuga.

"Good." Said Naruto, who smiled back.

"Lady Hinata!" called a voice from behind them. They both turned. Standing not too far from them, was a boy, a bit older than them, with long brown hair and he had the same eyes Hinata did.

"I-It's my cousin." The girl said. "I m-must go now." The girl said. The blond thought he heard some sadness in Hinata's voice at saying that.

"Oh, ok , Bye." The blond said. "C'ya around."

"Bye Naruto-kun." Hinata said, walking towards his cousin. Naruto watched her go, and he noticed the boy staring at him. _'Wonder if he's one of the persons that makes Hinata feel bad.' _Thought Naruto, returning the stare.

"Well," Naruto said out loud. "Time to train."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond got to his training spot.

'_Yo, fur ball!' _The blond mentally shouted. _'Today you're waking up earlier.'_

A deep grumble could be heard in his mind, but the fox didn't seem to wake up.

'_WAKE UP DUMB FOX!' _roared the blond, annoyed.

"**Fine."** The fox answered after a few moments. It sounded like he was also annoyed. Naruto heard what seemed to be like a gigantic yawn.

"**You're going to continue with your taijutsu training." **Explained the demon. **"What are you waiting for? Start running you brat!" **ordered the Kyuubi. Naruto took off his jacket as always and started running.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After ten laps around the village a couple thousands of pushups and sit-ups and some more exercises focusing on Naruto's resistance. The blond was resting against a tree. He didn't feel as exhausted like he did when he began. It seems that his body was adapting to the training.

"**It seems we still have time to do another exercise." **The fox said.

"But I already did the original training I always has! Don't you think that's enough?" complained the blond, panting.

"**Huh, that's what you get for waking me up 4 hours earlier." **Mocked the demon. **"Now you're going to meditate." **

"Huh?" asked the boy confused.

"**In the world of the ninja, you must always be alert. You can't get caught off guard, because if you do, you'll be kill. What I want you to do is to meditate and listen to everything around you, improving your senses. Got it?" **

"Yeah, yeah." answered the blond, relieved that it wasn't a physical exercise. He sat down in the lotus pose and started listening.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond got to his apartment an hour later, all he had heard were crickets and birds. It was 8:30. It was the first time he had finish training at this time. That was good, because it gave the blond more time to sleep. He had enough energy to take a bath. After that, he set his alarm clock and lay on his bed. He couldn't wait to start having missions tomorrow.

* Fire element – Grand Fire ball technique.

**Author's section**

**I will continue with this story, but I will write when I can, so the chapters may take longer.**

**Please review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Just a little warning, I read in an interview to Masashi Kishimoto that Naruto's era was compatible with our time so, in my story portable music devices exist. Also you might want to know what these means:**

**Teme = Bastard**

**Dobe = Idiot**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 10

"I refuse old man!" said the boy firmly, after a long day of dumb, boring missions. "There's no way I continue wasting my time with these so called missions!" Naruto said to the Hokage, who was sitting patiently, smoking his pipe, while he listened to the kid. Kakashi sigh and covered his face with his hand, and his two teammates were watching in horror and amazement how the blond dared to confront the highest authority in the village. Iruka seemed like he was going to have a heart attack. He had always instructed all his students to respect their superiors, specially the Hokage.

Naruto was pissed. They had started doing missions three weeks ago. The blond had imagine that missions were going to be dangerous and exciting, full of dangers, where they had to fight assassins and stuff like that. But instead, the team encountered crying babies, collecting crap of dogs as big as lions and vicious cats that escaped their owners and, when caught, scratched all your face, just to escape again, just after fifteen minutes, and it started all over again.

Naruto tried to see the bright side, telling himself that all great ninjas started this way. He gave his all in each mission, thinking that he was doing a favor to the village. Also with each mission accomplished, he was paid a small amount of money, it wasn't nearly the same as the Sandaime gave him monthly, but that made him feel useful, and his new schedule gave him more time to train and a couple more hours of sleep.

With each day of waking up at 5: 00 A.M after training the day before, having to be at the Hokage's tower thirty minutes later to receive their mission schedule and wait half an hour for their sensei to arrive, made Naruto's frustration bigger. He was sure his abilities could be used for more difficult tasks.

"There must be more interesting missions than planting tomatoes or babysitting." Continued the blond, while everyone in the room hush and listened to the boy.

"Naruto! You're just a genin, it is your duty to do this kind of missions, so you've gained experience." Iruka said. "Do I need to explain the mission chart again?" asked the scarred chuunin. The blond grumbled.

"It's been three weeks, I think I've collected enough experience of babysitting and collecting dog crap." Countered the blond. The Sandaime was watching Naruto carefully. He was aware of his secret training, and new that the blond was very capable.

"I agree with Uzumaki." Spoke Sasuke. They all turned to the raven haired genius.

"Wow, I didn't though you had a mind of your own." Commented the blond. Sasuke looked at him annoyed but continued. "I think our team is ready for missions from a higher level." Sakura nodded but said nothing. _'At least they agree on this.' _Thought Kakashi, recalling the verbal fights and pranks between Sasuke and Naruto, where the Uchiha could end with crashed eggs all over him.

"What do you think of this, Kakashi?" asked the Hokage, turning to the Jounin.

"I think they are ready for more." Said the grey haired sensei coolly. Naruto smiled, and turned expecting eyes to the Sandaime, who took a scroll from under the lots of papers and documents scattered on his table.

"I have a C ranked mission available." said the Hokage. "It consist to escort a bridge builder to the Hidden Mist Village, in the Land of the Waves." Conclude the old Hokage.

"Do you take it?" asked the smiling Sandaime, seeing no one talked.

"Hell Yeah!" said the blond energetically, Sasuke smirked in triumph and Sakura was happy and surprised that they were letting them take a C ranked mission that early.

"So when do we start?" asked the blond with a big grin in his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was seven in the morning and the kids were waiting for their sensei to arrive, along with their new client. They all had their equipment packed in their backpacks. They had met the bridge builder the day before. He was rather old, maybe mid fifties, the builder was drunk when they met, and it had been a rather heated introducing.

They old man, whose name was Tazuna, called Naruto shorty and weak, and the Uzumaki, being as he is, countered attacked with calling him a drunk old man and other nonchalantly words. Kakashi stopped the blond from punching Tazuna and calmed him down, telling him that they might never give them a C ranked mission again if he treated their clients like that. The blond scolded but calmed down and went to train. Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke some minutes later.

"You're late." Said Sakura in a scolding, unsurprised tone.

"Good morning to you too Sakura." Responded his sensei, with his crinkled eye, showing he was smiling under his mask.

"It's about time." Said the bridge builder, with a bottle of cheap sake in his hand.

"Naruto I expect you to be more respectful towards our client." Said the grey haired man warningly.

"I've brought precautions." Said the blond, taking a black iPod from his pocket, and putting the headphones on.

"Our mission is to protect our client, you're not supposed to bring that stuff. It is distracting." Scolded Sakura.

"If I don't bring this, there isn't going to be a client to guard." Replied the blond, starting to walk with muffled sounds of music that came from his headphones.

"He has a point you know." said Kakashi. He didn't need to worry about Naruto being distracted, he had witnessed the blonds' detecting abilities and they were quiet impressive. The pink haired genin growled at the permissive decision of her sensei and started walking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was ecstatic. He had never left the village and the sight of new places was overwhelming. He hoped he could go on missions outside Konoha more often. And the music just made it better. He had bought that iPod two years ago with the savings of a long time and used the Konoha's coffee shop computers to download music into it. He liked to listen to music from time to time, but in the last three weeks he had used it as an instrument in his training to help concentrate while he was meditating.

The land of waves was only six hours away from Konoha and the group of three kids and two adults had been walking for two hours. The group was silent; there hasn't been a conversation between them, except for a few comments of Sakura about the landscape. The group passed a small puddle that made Kakashi suspicious, but no one else noticed. When they were some meters away, the blond sensed killing intent coming their way. He took his iPod away. Immediately after, one figure emerged from the puddle and another from the trees.

They were two masked ninjas, each one with one big metallic gauntlet with large claws in one hand. The gauntlets had a chain coming out of them and it joined both gauntlets together. The ninjas surround Kakashi with the chain and pulled hard, cutting the grey haired man in little pieces.

'_Damn' _thought the blond.

"They got sensei!" cried out Sakura, terrorized.

"We must protect the old man!" shouted the blond. "Encircle him!" he commanded. The girl took a second to assimilate the situation and snap out of her horror. The boys formed a circle around Tazuna, who was shaking in fear, each with a kunai in hand.

"You're next." said the mist ninja with a large cloak over him, as he started coming their way, followed by his partner.

"They plan to surround us with that thing, like they did with sensei." Said the Uchiha.

"We need to get rid of that chain." The blond said, analyzing the situation. The Uchiha snorted lowly.

"Leave that to me." He said as he jumped in the air and took out a kunai and a shuriken. He threw the shuriken, clinging it through the little holes of the chain and inserting it in a tree. Then he threw the kunai that hit the shuriken in the center, and hit the tree sticking the chains even more. This stopped the ninjas that were stuck with their chains.

The raven haired boy landed on the gauntlets of each enemy and kicked them hard on the face, making the chain break from the tension.

'_Show off.' _thought the blond, as he prepared himself. The two ninjas didn't let that stop them, they recovered quickly and run towards their target.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu*!" said the blond, as a clone appeared next to the blond**.**

"You take the one from the left." Ordered the blond to his clone. The clone nodded. A few kicks and punches from the blond and the ninjas fell unconscious rapidly. Both Narutos were so quick that they seemed to appear out of nowhere and started attacking them. The mist shinobi tried to defend themselves but the blonds' attacks were just too quick and the punches felt like they were being hit with a hammer. The blond dismissed his clone.

"You can come out now you coward." said the blond with a smile, turning to his sensei who was sitting in a branch of a tree nearby. Kakashi jump from the tree he was hiding in and walked up to them with his book in his hand.

"Huh?" asked Sakura stupidly. "But how..?" she started when she turned where "Kakashi's" remains were supposed to be.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu*." Deduced Sasuke out loud.

"Very good." congratulated their sensei. "You did a good job. I was considering coming down and helping you but you took care of everything." They all smiled.

"Now, help me tie them up." Said the jounin. "Oh! And Tazuna-san." Called Kakashi.

"Yeah?" asked the bridge builder, alarmed.

"I would appreciate if you told me why were those chuunin after you." Said the man casually, but his tone was serious. Tazuna swallowed nervously.

"I-I don't know what you mean." Lied the bridge builder.

"Yes you do." Said the jounin. "There's no one else to target except you." Tazuna lowered his head.

"So?" asked Kakashi. The kids were also expecting Tazuna to respond.

"I didn't have the money to afford nothing above a C ranked mission. But it needed to be done." Confessed the old man.

"I know you have your reasons, but my students are only genins and they can't carry on this mission if we are to go against shinobi…" Explained the grey haired man but was interrupted by Naruto.

"What do you mean we aren't able to carry on this mission? Where you to busy reading your perverted book to watch how we kicked ninja's butt? I say we continue with it. What do you say teme?" asked Naruto to his teammate, calling him the nickname he baptized him a few weeks ago.

"I can deal with anything, dobe." Responded Sasuke annoyed. Any time the blond called him like that, he would counterstrike with a nickname of his invention. They might seem like they are insulting each other, but they were starting to like the game.

"Besides, we got you sensei." Added the blond. "You're a jounin. You're supposed to be a very strong shinobi, so we have nothing to worry about." Kakashi sighed and looked over to an expecting Sakura, whom at first wasn't so sure about continuing the mission but changed her mind when Sasuke spoke. The grey haired man sighed.

"This is what we are going to do." He began. "I'll send a message to the Hokage informing him about everything and I'll ask him to send a message back, telling us what to do. We will continue to escort Tazuna-san to the Land of the waves until we receive the Hokage's response. Got it?"

"Hai." answered the three genins at the same time. Tazuna let out a sigh of relief. At least he will have them to protect him for a while longer. Kakashi took out a blank scroll and wrote on it. He backed away a few meters from the group. Bit his thumb, making it bleed, performed various hand signs and pressed his hand on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu*" said the ninja. A puff of smoke appear, and when it cleared away, there was a little pug with the Konoha headband on his head.

"Wow." The blond said.

"Hey Kakashi, it's been a long time." Said the dog in a low, deep voice.

"Pakkun." Kakashi said as he kneeled down. "I need you to deliver this to the Hokage." He said, giving the scroll to Pakkun, who grabbed it with the mouth.

"I'll summon you again in seven hours."

"Hai." The dog responded as he ran towards the direction of Konoha.

"What was that?" asked the blond, watching the dog disappear in the trees.

"A summoning jutsu." Responded the pink haired girl.

"That's right. Pakkun is my summoning creature." Said Kakashi standing up. "Shall we go then?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They continued walking towards their destination. In their way, Kakashi urged the bridge builder to explain furthermore the situation he was in. The old man hesitated a bit, but then started talking, considering that his retribution to them, for not abandoning him when they found out he'd lied. It appeared that the small islands that made up the land of waves were being devastated by the action of a very rich and very malicious man who was a big investor.

His name is Gato. That man put his eyes on the land of waves, because of the lack of communication means with the rest of society. Finding it easy to control the importations, so that he could keep with all the feedstock, Gato caused the country to submerge in poverty. Not only that, but he also is involved in contraband of drugs and goods.

"And why don't you report him to the authorities?" inquired Sakura, walking next to the old man to listen to every word he said.

"Because with all the money he has, he can buy anyone he wants. And with the hard times the people is passing through, I doubt anyone would reject money." Responded Tazuna somberly.

"But there must be persons out there that put their village well being over money." Naruto stated, very interested in the village's situations.

"Off course they are." Answered the old man. "But anyone that opposes Gato ends up annihilated. That's why Gato hires assassins and ninjas. To maintain the land of waves his." Responded the old man darkly, melancholy all written on him.

"I've lost very good friends in the construction of the bridge, and my workers are the bravest men that can endure their duty, knowing they could be killed any moment." Added Tazuna solemnly.

The kids lowered their heads as they saw a new reality in front of them. They were starting to see the world as it really was.

"So, the reason Gato is intending to kill you, is because your bridge represents another alternative to connect to the society in search of progress." Deduced the masked man. Tazuna nodded.

"This means Gato is going to keep sending assassins after you until you´re dead. And the next time he does, it won't be chuunin." Said Kakashi darkly. The bridge builder swallowed. He just hoped he could still have someone to protect him.

"Don't worry." Said the blond smiling with determination. "We won't let anyone kill you." He turned ahead, adjusting his headphones in his ears.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mist was everywhere. They walked around the shore, looking for their mean of transportation. After covering a small distance, they located a small motorized rowboat camouflaged among the undergrowth. Already in it, there was a skinny man wearing a wide hat, waiting for them.

"Your late." The man whispered nervously.

"We ran into some trouble." Explained Tazuna, getting into the boat.

"Were you followed?" asked the man alarmed. The old man shook his head.

"Then we'd better get going." said the pilot, urging to the others to get into the boat.

"Why don't you turn on the engine." Asked Sakura, noticing that the pilot was sailing the boat with an Eku*. "It would be faster."

"Because we don't want to be noticed." Responded the man, his eyes wondering the surroundings. Time passed and a big structured could be seen from within the mist.

"Is that your bridge?" asked Kakashi to the drinking man. Tazuna nodded proudly. It was almost complete.

"In approximately one week or two…" Said the man. "We will escape of the miserable existence Gato put us through. We will progress." Stated Tazuna, his eyes gleaming with determination. The mist was starting to dissolve, until it was gone completely and sunlight spread all over them.

"We have arrived." Said the skinny man.

A village surrounded by water was what welcomed team 7. The landscape made the sight beautiful, but the village wasn't that magnificent. The houses were in bad shape. They reached a small pier and all the passengers disembarked.

"I've done what I could. Please be careful, the village depends on you." Said the pilot, leaving the spot rapidly.

"Alright. Let's take you home Tazuna-san." Said Kakashi, as they started moving.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They left the village and went into the woods. The group had been walking for a good fifteen minutes. Team seven was alert. The next time they were attack, the ninjas would be of a higher level. They couldn't let their guard down. There was something among the bushes. Naruto heard it. Sure enough Kakashi had noticed too.

The blond threw a kunai in the direction of the noise.

"What was that for?" Sakura demanded the whiskered boy.

"There's something there." Answered he blond. Sasuke ventured towards the bushes.

"It's just a hare… wait a minute." The Uchiha said, but was cut off by Naruto who made a sign of silence. He felt it! Killing intent. He turned quickly to Kakashi.

"Everyone duck!" yelled the jounin. Naruto jumped over the bridge builder, knocking him to the ground, quickly enough to take him out of the way of a big spinning sword that had been thrown towards the man. The sword continued its way until it got engrafted in a nearby tree. With an incredible speed, a man appeared standing on the handle of he sword.

The man was shirtless, and had a bandage surrounding his mouth. He was wearing a kirigakure headband. Kakashi tensed up. _'This guy…' _

"Hatake Kakashi." said the newcomer in a raspy voice. "It's an honor to meet the copy cat ninja in person." Kakashi glared at him.

"Momochi Zabuza." Responded the masked ninja. "I never thought possible seeing you face to face." The guy named Zabuza chuckled.

"Enough of complements. I've come for the old man." Said the mist ninja. "Give him to me and there'll be no need of a massacre."

"I'm sorry, but we have no intention of giving him to you." The jounin said, getting ready for a confrontation.

"It doesn't matter. It's been a while since I've killed someone strong." said Zabuza, retrieving his sword from the tree and jumping to the ground.

"It's time for you to know why I am called the assassin of the mist." Threatened the man, preparing his sword. Kakashi turned to the rest.

"Stay out of this. You'll focus on Tazuna-san. I'll deal with this guy." commanded the man as he reached for his headband. _'I didn't want to use this, but against this guy it's the only way.' _thought the jounin.

"Oh! I see you're going to use your sharingan eye." Said Zabuza. "Then I'll be serious too." _'Sharingan? What's he talking about?' _asked Sasuke to himself, as he watched his sensei take the headband from his face, revealing a scar crossing his left eye. Kakashi opened his eye, revealing a red pupil, with three black dots formed in a circle. The sharingan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Multi Shadow Clone Technique.

*Kawarimi no Jutsu – Substitution technique.

*Kuchiyose no Jutso – Summoning Technique.

*Eku – Is a long stick with a short blade in its end, used to row or direct a boat.

**Author's section**

**Review**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 11

'_How?' _Sasuke asked himself incredulous, looking at the sharingan Kakashi's left eye was housing. _'Only the members of the Uchiha clan are supposed to posses that technique. How did he come with it? How is it possible?' _The Uchiha felt outraged, but luckily his common sense told him that this was not the time to ask questions. He'll wait for the answers.

Kakashi was staring at Zabuza's figure standing a few feet ahead of him, but he was discretely observing Sasuke's reactions on his sharingan. Luckily the boy didn't ask anything, but he was not going to escape from the questions later on. The missing ninja started to move. Kakashi shifted his eyes towards him.

"This will be fun. I wonder who I am going to kill first." said the shirtless ninja. Zabuza jumped backwards, so he was standing over a small river, standing over the water.

"Cool." Noted the blond. "Hey sensei, when are you going to teach us to walk on the water?"

"Naruto, this is not the moment for asking that." Warned Kakashi.

"It seems you haven't thought your students to be serious in a battle. Let me give them a lesson." Commented Zabuza, positioned his arms in a technique style.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu*" he said. The water underneath him started to rise around him. Mist started to form out of nowhere. Kakashi alarmed. The kids formed a circle around the terrified bridge builder, with their kunai ready.

"Listen kids. This man is way beyond the abilities of the chuunin that we defeated earlier. His specialization is the silent killing. He'll come out of nowhere and kill you, and you'll be dead before you realized what happened." Warned the jounin. "Be ready for any attack."

The kids tensed up. Sakura was shaking but maintain her stance. The mist was getting so thick that you could hardly anything a few feet away from you. Soon, Zabuza was nowhere to be seen.

"W-Where did he go?" asked Sakura. Kakashi was slowly fading from sight too.

"Sensei?" the frightened girl asked. _'My sharingan can't see through this fog.' _Noted the Konoha jounin mentally. The jounin concentrated chakra all around his body and released in one impulse, making the mist disperse.

'_Now we're talking.'_ commented the blond mentally, focusing on perceiving the enemy's presence, but so far, he sensed nothing. _'C'mon, where is he?' _the blond closed is eyes, focusing harder. _'Why can't I sense him? C'mon C'mon C'mon!' _

"Watch out!" yelled Kakashi towards his team.

The blond opened his eyes in shock. He heard Sakura screaming. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Zabuza was behind him. Not only that. The mist assassin was right between the circle the kids had made around their client. It was amazing that he had gotten so close and he couldn't sense him at all. But what caught Naruto's attention, was that he had felt a presence of someone over a tree, not too far from where they were. Watching. _'But who?'_

Naruto had to stop wondering about the other presence to watch how Zabuza was stabbed by his sensei that had come to their aid. The blond turned to see that the "Zabuza" Kakashi had stabbed was a water clone. The whiskered boy reacted, along with his teammates. Sakura and Sasuke leapt backwards, away from the assassin. The blond caught the old man's arm and carried him away quickly.

"He got so close." Sasuke said, trying to dissimulate his disorientation. The Uchiha never thought he'd be caught off guard.

The kids watched as their sensei fought against the assassin. Their attacks were so strong, that the kids could feel the chakra blowing.

"Protect the old fart." The blond said to his comrades, signalizing the bridge builder who looked like he was going to suffer a heart attack.

"I won't take long." He turned towards the place the mysterious person was and started running.

"Wait a moment." Sasuke yelled. "Where do you think you're going you coward?" Naruto ignored him. He turned his head towards his sensei. Kakashi leapt away from Zabuza and gave the blond a nod of approval, Naruto nodded back.

'_Don't get too cocky.' _thought the grey haired man, as he watched the Kyuubi container go.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm sick of doing such lame missions!" spat the tattooed boy with a dog over his head.

"I'm not planning to do more D ranked!"

"Kiba! Show some respect." Kurenai scolded. Team 8's sensei sighed. This routine had been going on since last week.

"I'm very sorry Hokage-sama." The black haired kunoichi as she bowed apologetically. She observed as the young boy grunted in discontent and crossed his arms. His two other teammates were behind him. Shino seemed impassible and Hinata as quiet as always. The Sandaime sighed. It was the same thing with Naruto yesterday.

"We've already talked about this. You are not supposed to do C ranked missions just yet." She said, her red eyes looking directly towards his.

"But-"complained the Inuzuka, but was interrupted when a chuunin entered the room.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san has sent a messenger." said the chuunin bowing respectfully to the old man.

"Send him in." the Hokage said. The chuunin bowed again and left the room. Few moments later a little dog with the leaf headband on and a scroll on his mouth came through the door. Akamaru lifted his head in curiosity. Pakkun walked over to the Hokage's desk, every person in the room staring at the dog. He jumped over the table, placing the scroll in front of the third.

"Long time no see, Pakkun." greeted the Sandaime warmly.

"Same here, Sarutobi." said Pakkun, saluting him with a movement of his paw. The old Hokage unfolded the scroll and read its content. '_**Chuunin level ninja attack. Under more possible ninja assaults. Will continue mission until further instructions.**__' _Was what Sarutobi read. Hmm. _'I knew it.' _Said the man to himself. He sensed that the old bridge builder wasn't telling the truth. Should he call them back? _'No.' _Kakashi was one of the best shinobi in the village. He could handle almost any enemy confronts. They should be fine. He was sure the sharingan user wouldn't let anybody on his team to get hurt. Sarutobi raised is eyes from the scroll to the young kids in front of him and their female instructor. He pondered for a minute. _'Just in case…' _

"Team eight." He called. The kids raised their heads immediately. "I happen to have a C ranked mission available. It consists as a reinforcement mission. What do you say Kurenai?" asked the Hokage directing to the team sensei.

"Uhm." The black haired jounin looked at her team, Kiba specially. She was sure that if she didn't agree, the Inuzuka boy was never going to stop complaining.

"Sure." She replied. Kiba produced a loud "yahoo" followed by his dog celebrating with him, barking in joy.

"What is it about?" asked Shino, not showing any expressiveness.

"You're to help team seven in wave country to-" began explained the aged man.

"Wait a minute." Kiba said abruptly, interrupting the old Hokage. "That's Uzumaki and Uchiha's team isn't it? I'm not planning to receive any orders from them." _'That's Naruto-kun's team.' _thought Hinata, feeling her adrenaline raise. Sarutobi sighed once more.

"You're going to protect a bridge builder." The Hokage said. "I doubt there are orders involved. You are going to work together to fulfill this mission. Am I clear?" asked the Hokage, his tone not giving room for anymore discussions. Kiba was going to complain but he caught the sharp gaze from his sensei and desisted.

"All right." Concluded Sarutobi. "You depart tomorrow morning."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'_Someone's coming.' _He thought. The unknown observant jumped from the branch he was standing to the ground, prepared to flee. Just as he was about to make a hand sign to disappear, a kunai was thrown his way and had to move rapidly to dodge it. _'They've discovered me.' _He thought, although he did not worry. He'd have to face the newcomer.

"Don't move." A voice said. Within the trees emerged a blond, wearing bright orange combined with blue. He was wearing a Konoha hitai ate. The boy halted a few feet away from him.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded fiercely. The stranger stood calmly facing the blond. He had long, dark hair and some kind of dress on. He was wearing a mask, resembling the ones ANBU wore and had a kirigakure headband.

"My name I cannot tell, as for I am a member of kirigakure's hunter ninjas." replied the mysterious ninja in a soft voice. '_Hmm' _The blond analyzed him. The mist ninja's voice told him that he was somewhere around his age. '_Is unusual to see someone my age be part of the elite ninja_.' Thought the blond. Then again it wasn't impossible. _'Still… There's something catchy about this guy.' _

"What is your business in here?" inquired the blond, lowering his kunai and leaving his fight position, but still alert.

"My unit has been after Zabuza for a long time." Responded the dark haired ninja. "It is my mission to destroy him before he reveals my village's secrets." Every second that passed, made the blond more suspicious. He was determined to find out who this guy really was.

"Where's your team then? I'm sure you weren't sent alone to hunt down Zabuza. And why didn't you attack him when you had the chance?" shot the blond and smirked mentally, seeing that he intruder did not respond. _'He's got me.'_ The young dark haired boy concluded. Just as he was considering his options, Naruto faded rapidly just to appear immediately next to him and threw a kick aimed at his face. The impostor blocked just in time with his hands but the blow came with such strength that jolted him backwards. _'His speed is impressive.' _thought the shocked boy, as he watched the blond land in front of him. _'It seems I'll have to fight him.' _The masked boy took out a senbon and positioned in his fighting stance, ready to engage in combat. _'It's a shame he'd discovered me.'_ thought the fake ANBU sadly. He really didn't want to hurt anybody.The blond readied his kunai. _'Oh well, one less obstacle for Zabuza-sama.' _And with this he launched forward, as did Naruto.

Their weapons ran into each other. When the blond tried to strike blows they were dejected by the counterattacks of the masked boy, and vice versa. As the fight progressed, the boys were increasing their speed. You could just see blurs out of them and hear continuous sounds of metal clashing against metal. _'Damn it.' _The blond thought as his charges were deflected yet again by his opponent. _'He's fast.' _ Naruto jumped back and landed on a tree vertically, just to charge directly towards the enemy with his kunai ready to hit. The mist ninja blocked them with his own. They stood in the middle of the trees with their weapons against each other. Both ninjas were trying to excel its opponent by pouring all their force into their weapons.

"Your skills amaze me." The long haired ninja praised behind his mask.

"You're not bad either." The blond replied with a vehement smile in his face. It was his first real fight since he'd become a ninja. Mizuki was crap compared with this guy. Suddenly a great amount of chakra was released not far from them. Naruto noticed that the masked ninja stiffened for a moment.

"Surrender." The dark haired boy said smoothly but lightly hurried. "And I won't kill you." The blond smirked.

"Why would I surrender? We're in the same conditions here." The blond replied, regarding that each of them just had one free hand.

"My advantage consists of my capability of doing this." Responded the masked boy as he made a few signs with his left hand. The blond looked stunned. He'd never seen anyone doing techniques with just one hand. Just who this guy was? The boy finished and a shadow clone appeared besides him. Seeing that he was in a dangerous situation, Naruto jumped rapidly into the air away from them. Each of them took out another senbon and threw the needles towards the boy. _'Shit.' _cursed the whiskered boy mentally. Four senbons where flying towards the whiskered ninja. The blond grabbed one needle with his hand briskly before it hit him and repelled another with his kunai but couldn't do anything else with the other two. He felt a sharp pain. One senbon hit his right arm and the other his right leg. As soon as he hit the ground he turned his attention where the enemy was. The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke and the masked ninja in a swirl of wind and leaves.

"Goddamnit!" the blond yelled in frustration. "Why the hell did I jumped?" he asked out loud. The blond now turned to his wounds. The needles were sticking out of his body. The wounds weren't that bad, in fact they barely did any damage. Naruto took them out and winced slightly, a small trickle of blood followed but ceased almost immediately. He could feel the healing powers of the fox acting slowly. The blond sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. If he saw that masked guy again, he'll punch his face so hard, his mask will shatter along with his bones. That guy was with Zabuza for sure. The blond stood up quickly and started running where he had left his team and the old bridge builder fighting the huge sword wielder, not minding the recent wounds. _'That guy went over to help Zabuza.' _The blond deduced as he ran. _'I'd bet all my ramen on that.' _Naruto couldn't let that bastard trick their comrades as he tried with him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The forest floor was flooded. Water trickled down the tree's leaves. Naruto got to the scene promptly. He saw Kakashi lying on the wet ground, with Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna formed around him worriedly. It seemed like a big fight had exploded. The blond scanned the place for Zabuza but didn't found him. _'I guess I'm too late.' _The blond sighed to himself.

"Naruto!" he heard Sakura called. The blond walked over towards his group . "Where the hell did you go?" asked the pink haired girl worriedly, ready to lecture him.

"What happened to sensei?" asked the blond worriedly, ignoring Haruno's interrogation.

"He collapsed for overusing his sharingan." responded Sasuke, emphasizing in the last part. The blue eyed genin relaxed visibly.

"And Zabuza?"

"He was killed by a hunter-nin from the mist village and taken away afterwards." Said the bridge builder delighted. The blond lowered his head lightly, his suspicions being confirmed.

"Answer my question!" Sakura urged, her eyes landing on his wounds. "And what happened to you?"

"I spotted a complice of Zabuza not far from here and had to engage combat." The blond explained. "He wore a mask pretended to be a kirigakure hunter-nin. In the middle of our fight he fled, but before that he stuck two needles in my body." The blond said bitterly. His team stared at him for a moment, their mouths open in shock, until Tazuna broke the silence.

"Y-You mean Zabuza is not dead?" asked the bridge builder incredulous.

"That's impossible!" The Uchiha said. "That masked guy killed him with two senbon in his neck and even Kakashi-sensei checked his vitals and confirmed Zabuza's death." Naruto shook his head.

"I don't know how he did it, but believe me, Momochi Zabuza is not dead." Naruto said as he crossed his arms.

"You're wrong." the green eyed girl stated, not wanting to believe was she was hearing.

"Maybe he's not." Intervened Sasuke thoughtfully. "Think about it. Hunter-nins supposedly use fatal weapons to kill their target on the spot. He used senbon that are mostly used in medicine. Perhaps Zabuza is not dead after all." Concluded the Uchiha genius.

"But you saw how he fell dead in front of us!" claimed the old man.

"He might have used his needles to strike a nerve that induced Zabuza in a partial dead state." reasoned the blond.

"So that masked boy is not who he said he was." Stated Sakura now more convinced.

"Well, he did attack me after all." The blond said matter-of-factly. The pink haired girl sent him an annoyed look. For the bridge builder it was still hard to believe.

"Aren't you being a little too paranoid?" asked the old man hopefully.

"Let's take sleeping beauty over here to the old man's place." The blond said, ignoring Tazuna's question. He took Kakashi's right arm and put it round him.

"Teme, come here and help me with your big and masculine arms." The blond mocked. Sasuke rolled his eyes and went over to Naruto and put their sensei's other arm around him. They pulled him up and started walking towards the bridge builder's house. _'Let's just hope Zabuza is too weak to try anything soon.' _The blond thought worriedly but was quickly put aside as he searched in his sensei's pouch and took his little orange book.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hidden Mist technique

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 12

Kakashi opened slowly his only visible eye, just to close it quickly at the presence of the sunrays hitting his face. He tried to move but the stiffness of his body. He grumbled deeply.

"Look Sasuke-kun!" he heard Sakura saying not too far from him. "He's awake." The grey haired jounin felt steps coming his way.

"Sensei!" the pink haired kunoichi exclaimed as she entered the room, followed by Sasuke. "How are you feeling?" Kakashi looked around, analyzing the unfamiliar room.

"Are we in Tazuna's house?" he asked, supposing it was the only possible answer.

"Yes you are." answered a tall, long dark haired woman coming along with the children.

"Welcome to our home, Kakashi-san." She greeted politely while she opened the curtains.

"My name is Tsunami. I am Tazuna's daughter. And I'm very grateful that you had put your lives at risk to protect my father." Tsunami said with a kind smile. Kakashi was about to thank the woman for her hospitality when he remembered his fight.

"Zabuza!" He said pushing himself up trying to sit down, feeling his body stiffness again, but was stopped by Sakura and Tsunami.

"You can't move so brusquely. After your fight with Zabuza you were so exhausted you collapsed." Kakashi returned to his original position.

"I overused my sharingan didn't I?" Sasuke nodded. Kakashi sighed.

"Well, It had been a while since the last time I used it." Kakashi stated. Every time that happened, he'd be out of action for a week or so. The masked man sighed.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked, recalling the blonds' personal mission.

"He's still in bed." Replied Sasuke in a bored tone.

"He's been sleeping all morning, like you." Sakura responded. Kakashi relaxed, his obnoxious student was alright.

"Has anything else happened?" he inquired, feeling uneasy about his appearance in the fight. Sakura and Sasuke look at each other nervously.

"You see…" the kids told him everything that Naruto had deduced yesterday. They told him about the mysterious ninja's fight with Naruto and their suspicions about his real identity and Zabuza's 'death'. Just as Kakashi had suspected. He had also doubted the kirigakure's hunter-nin real goal, but as weak as he was after his combat, couldn't do anything. Zabuza was not dead. But something was sure. It would take a while for him to recover. _'Lets hope I recover first.' _Thought Kakashi grimly.

They also told him about the blonds' verbal fight with the bridge builder's grandson, Inari. It had all started when the little child told them that their efforts of fighting Gato didn't make any difference. Gato was still going to kill them and they were too weak to do anything. Naruto, being as he is, replied rather rudely that he wasn't going to stand a coward telling him to give up.

"_If you're too afraid to do something and help, fine! But I will not stand here crying while I can provide help to those who need it!" _were Naruto's exact words. This caused a crying eight-year old, a scolding Sakura and a pissed Naruto that went upstairs to sleep, not willingly to listen to Sakura's lecture. Kakashi smiled slightly at this. It seemed that for Naruto age and gender didn't matter, he was still going to tell the truth no matter how harsh it was.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Sakura. They grey haired man turned to the kids.

"Well, my body won't be able to move normally for a week or so." Explained their sensei.

"What if Gato's men attack again?" she started, but then a more horrifying possibility came to her mind. "What if Zabuza attacks again?"

"Don't worry Sakura." Kakashi said reassuringly. "After getting hit by a kunai in each limb, he won't be attacking soon."

"What about the Hokage's new orders?" asked Sasuke from the corner of the room, recalling Kakashi's dog sent asking for new instructions.

"I was supposed to summon Pakkun an hour after he delivered my message to the Hokage, but in my current state, I can't do such thing. We'll have to wait."

"I want you all to be alert in case someone comes near this house." Kakashi commanded. "Gato will send men only during night, knowing that Tazuna's got ninja watching him. You'll be taking turns to guard the house. You'll have to train alone for a while until I'm strong enough to walk." The kids nodded.

"I'll start preparing lunch." said Tsunami, standing up.

"Lunch already?" asked Kakashi perplex. The woman nodded with a smile.

"Yes, you and your other student have slept all over the morning." After saying that, she left the room.

"Well, guess it's time to wake Naruto up." Kakashi said turning towards Sasuke. The Uchiha sighed but stood up.

"Fine." The raven haired boy said leaving the room. Just after Sasuke left the room, a very familiar little book landed on the grey haired jounin's chest.

"What the-" Kakashi said in confusion. It was his beloved Icha Icha Paradise.

"You're a pervert." Came Naruto's voice from the window. Sakura and Kakashi turned to him.

"How did yo- Don't you ever do that again!" the grey haired jounin yelled towards the blond mocking face.

"I just wanted to know what the big deal with this book was." The blond said as he entered the room, with Kakashi's furious gaze still on him.

"Why do you mean with pervert?" Sakura asked confused. The blond smirked to his sensei's raging face.

"It's porn." He responded plainly, with a big grin on his whiskered face. The pink haired girl blushed from embarrassment for a moment as she discovered a new phase of his sensei, but that was quickly replaced with an angry frown.

"Men!" she exclaimed as she exit the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond was in the forest near to Tazuna's house, jacket lying on the ground, ready to start his warm up. He'd just have lunch a while ago and was ready to train. Kakashi had eaten on his mattress while the other habitants of the house ate in the dining room. This time Inari didn't say anything to Naruto or the others and the blond kept silence as well, much to his team relief.

His fight with the masked ninja had made him realize that he needed to improve more. The whiskered boy pondered about his battle last night. He reviewed his move and attacks. The blond played the battle in his head over and over again, surveying his mistakes and movements. _'What if I had taken my weights off?'_ He asked himself. He could have defeated him, probably. But if he had trained more, he could have won without taken them off. He needed to get stronger. He wouldn't call the fox right now. The all mighty Kyuubi had given him instructions on taijutsu techniques and the blond still needed to refine some of the combinations he was working on.

"All right." The blond said when he finished his push-ups and summoned ten clones to begin with his taijutsu training. He started fighting with his clones two weeks ago, so he could practice his combos on them. He'd learned to control the amount of chakra he put in his clones, so that they could stand more than one hit. This off course involved more chakra than normal, but the boy's huge chakra reserve made it possible for him. The more chakra you give a clone, the more hits it can take, the fox told him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The last clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sweat trickled down the boy's face and covered all his body. It took him almost two hours to get rid of all his clones. Naruto sat on the ground panting softly when his ears perked up at the sound of someone approaching. He stood up quickly and focused. It sounded like a group of four. Could it be Gato's men again? No, sending men during the daylight was too foolish. Also they seemed to walk calmly. _'Might as well find out.' _He suppressed his chakra to avoid being noticed and went in the direction of the visitors.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The group of tree kids, one woman and one dog directed towards their client residence. The eight thought they were heading onto a simple C ranked mission, where they only needed to stay until a bridge was finished. That was until they passed a forest area just a while ago, more like a battle arena that had housed a big fight. A ninja fighting ground, Kurenai was sure about that. Worried that the fight might be related with team seven, she rushed her pupils towards their destiny, to find out about their comrades fate.

The lavender eyed girl was walking behind her sensei. She paused as she sensed someone coming.

"Kurenai-sensei." She called softly, in a worried tone. Her eyes had captured a shadow moving towards their group. Her sensei also stopped.

"I know Hinata." The black haired woman said turning to her.

"Huh?" asked Kiba. He glanced at the two females of his group and then to Shino, who had also stop walking.

"Don't worry." Kurenai said reassuringly, with a small smile. "I think I know who it is." Kiba was still questioning the situation, while Shino was expecting something or someone to appear. Hinata was about to call for her blood limit when the shadow suddenly cleared to reveal a gold haired boy landing on the top of a tree.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kiba demandingly to the whiskered boy.

"I should ask you the same question." Replied the blond coolly, turning to the red eyed woman. The tattooed boy huffed in displeasure. The black haired jounin was about to explain when she noticed the boy's wet shirt.

"Why are you soaked?" she asked pointing the blond's shirt. Naruto looked down.

"Oh, that. I was training." He responded casually. The woman nodded.

"Anyway, we are here to help with your mission." Kurenai responded. "I thought Kakashi's dog had informed you." She added. The blond raised a brow in confusion.

"Ah yeah, Pakkun." The blond said, remembering the canine going for new orders. "No, Kakashi couldn't summon him back." The blond responded. Kurenai sent him an inquisitive look.

"We kinda got attacked by this missing-nin. He and sensei fought, Kakashi beat his ass, but he collapse from overusing his sharingan, you see." The blond informed with a smile. "Now he's in bed and can't move, much less perform a summoning technique." The members from team eight stared at him perplexed.

"Wait, you got attacked by a shinobi?" asked Kurenai bewildered.

"Well, four to be more precise." The blond said. "I think it'd all clear after you talk with Kakashi-sensei.

"Uh, yes." The dark haired woman said. She sighed. _'This must have been serious, for Kakashi to have used his sharingan.'_ The woman thought. _'No wonder why lord Hokage sent reinforcements.' _The blond spotted the shy Hyuuga behind her sensei.

"Hey Hinata." He greeted with a smile. "Long time no see." The pale eyed girl emitted a soft 'eek'.

"N-Naruto-kun." she said fidgeting with her fingers nervously. "I-It's good to s-see you again." She blushed a bright shade of red at the sight of Naruto without his jacket, and his black t-shirt sticking to his body, making noticeable the forming muscles. She quickly turned her eyes to the ground, avoiding the blond's confuse eyes. The blond cocked an eyebrow. _'Why does she always do that?' _he questioned himself. Besides her, Kiba was glaring daggers at the puzzled blond.

"We will continue our way to the bridge builder's home." Kurenai said, noticing the looks Kiba was throwing Naruto. The whiskered boy nodded.

"I'll go get my jacket and be there in a while." He blond said turning on his tracks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a brief introduction to Tazuna's house residents; Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and team eight were sitting around Kakashi's bed. The masked jounin explained the situation to Kurenai. From the mist chuunin and Naruto's fight with the false hunter-nin to Kakashi's fight with Zabuza and how they were fooled by the impostor. Team eight had thought that was just an escorting mission, so it was reasonable that they were shocked by the information and, in Hinata's case, intimidated by the fact that they were to confront strong shinobi.

"So Uzumaki got his ass kicked by a homo-masked guy." Kiba stated with a mocking grin, pronouncing the words with delight.

"Tch. I got caught off guard, you mutt." Answered the blond annoyed. The kids were waiting outside the house, after being asked to leave the room so their sensei's could discuss their new strategy so it include both teams. "Also, I've never seen someone capable of performing jutsus with just one hand." The blond said thoughtfully, recording the fight.

"Well, that was your fault." said Sakura sitting over a fence near the entrance, next to Hinata. "If you haven't gone after him alone, you wouldn't have to fight him yourself, much less being stabbed by needles." She scolded, signaling the tiny holes in the blond's clothes where the needles had hit.

"If I haven't gone after him, we wouldn't have known he was an impostor." countered the blond leaning against the trunk of a tree nearby. He glanced over his tore jacket and pants, sighing. "Man, I need to sew my clothes."

"That's right, you stay here and sew." The Inuzuka boy laughed, who was standing in front of the Hyuuga. "Leave the real combat to Akamaru and me, we'll defeat that faggot with one blow, right boy?" The tattooed boy asked the dog lying by his feet, who barked in respond.

"Well, if he smells your toxic breath, no doubt he'd die of suffocation." The Kyuubi container replied with a smirk. Kiba growled.

"Why yo-"

"Alright kids." Came Kurenai's voice from the entrance. "It's all been settled up. Each of you will guard the house at night. You'll be taking turns and switch each hour." The red eyed kunoichi explained.

"If you sense someone coming, you'll return immediately and announce it. You're _not_ to fight alone." She marked the last words gazing at the blond, who scratched the back of his head with a smile.

"First goes Sakura, then Shino, Hinata, Naruto, Kiba and finally Sasuke." She concluded. "Is it clear?" she asked with her hands on her hips. All the children nodded. Tsunami walked towards them with a pleasant smile on her face.

"I've finished preparing your beds. The boys will stay in the room where Kakashi-san is and the girls in the room in front of them."

"Thank you for your hospitality. Sorry for being a bother." Excused Kurenai embarrassed.

"Oh, it's nothing. We have plenty of space in this old house." replied Tsunami kindly. "Besides, it's not the first time various persons have stayed here. My father once brought fifteen of his comrades against Gato who had nowhere to go, and we managed just fine."

"Arigato." Thanked the red eyed jounin again.

"All right then. I am going to make some snacks."

"Oh! Can I help?" asked Sakura, raising her hand.

"Off course you can honey." responded the black haired woman.

"I would like to help too, if you don't mind." The raven haired girl said shyly. Tsunami nodded. The blond raised his eyebrow yet again. _'No stutter this time?' _

"Both of you!" she replied.

"Why don't you help too, teme? I'm sure you'd like to wear that pink apron." teased the blond with a chuckle.

"Baka." retorted the Uchiha from the branch above the blond. Naruto continued to laugh until he remembered something.

"Uhm, missis." called the whiskered boy hesitantly, the word sounded alien for him. Tsunami turned to him. "Is there a river anywhere near?"

"Yes there is, Naruto-chan." responded the woman with a smile, the suffix making the boy blush lightly. The only woman that had treated him nicely was the daughter of the owner of Ichiraku, Ayame. "There's one east from this house. No more than half mile."

"Thanks." he said starting to walk. "I might be back in three hours." He informed to the rest of the group as he started moving.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto had just his underwear on. His jacket, shirt, pants and sandals were on the ground. He will learn how to walk on the water, just like Kakashi and Zabuza had. He had a feeling it'd be very similar to climbing trees, but he'd ask the fox anyways.

'Hey fox!' shouted the blond in his head.

"**I'm already awake, you brat! You don't have to be so noisy." **The Kyuubi said in a growl. He seemed annoyed, as he always has.

'Well, that's surprising.' The blond said lazily.

"**Did you think I sleep all the time?"** asked the fox.

'Well, yeah. What else do you do?'

"**Wander through your mind." **The fox replied with a sadistic smile. The blond felt a chill run through his spine.

'Anyways. I need you to show me how to walk on the water.' The blond said, putting the fox's comment aside.

"**Hmm. I don't think you'll have much trouble learning. It's pretty much the same as tree climbing, just a bit more complex." **

"Complex how?"

"**For tree climbing, all you had to do was to find the right amount of chakra so that you didn't fall nor break the bark of the tree. Water fluctuates. You'll have to mold chakra around your feet and adapt it constantly, so you don't sink." **The red haired beast explained.

'I see.' The blond said scratching his jaw in thought. 'Mold the chakra and balance it.'

"**Good, cause I'm off to sleep." **The fox said with a smirk as his presence vanished.

'Hey! Come back here you lazy-ass!' The blond yelled, but there was no reply. _'Goddamn furball.' _

The blond headed towards the river.

"Just mold it according to the water." The blond reminded himself as he sent chakra to the soles of his feet. As soon as he stepped in he started to drown. _'I need more.' _He started pumping more chakra to his feet, and his drowning stopped. He had half his legs under the water. _'More.' _He thought as he continued sending more chakra. He slowly started to rise.

"Yeah." He said triumphantly. "This is not so ha-" he didn't get to finish his phrase, when he drown completely. _'Maybe I was mistaken.' _He thought as he pulled himself up to the ground.

"Here I go again."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C ya later**

**- Patty**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 13

"I'm getting there." The soaked blond chuckled happily. In just an hour he had learned how to maintain himself steady, but he still needed to walk without adding too much chakra to his feet, thing that he tend to do a lot and thus, making him loose his balance. He needed to correct that. Well, climbing trees had taken a lot more. But he still needed to finish. Naruto gave a trembling step on the water when he heard a tiny voice coming from the forest.

"N-Naruto-kun." The blond turned to the girl that had called him.

"Hinata wha-" the blond said, regarding the girl, but his words were suffocated as he lost his focus and submerged in the water.

"Naruto-kun!" The girl ran towards the river to check if the blond was ok. Naruto emerged from the water coughing.

"A-Are you all right?" the girl asked worried. The blond swam towards her and pulled himself up to the ground.

"I'm fine. Just swallowed some water." The blond responded standing up.

"I-I'm sorry." The girl apologized, lowering her head.

"Meh, don't worry." The blond said waving it off. "What you doing here?" he asked. The shy Hyuuga turned very still. She was holding a plate with five colored dangos. The kunoichi was about to speak when her eyes fell on the blond's underwear, that lead to a very red Hinata. The blond noticed that he only had one layer of clothes on and hurried to put on his pants.

"Hehe, sorry about that." He apologized, scratching his head embarrassed with his hand engulfed by his wrist weight. The black haired girl forced her eyes to the ground, avoiding the sight of the boy's naked chest. She took a deep breath to gather herself, at least a bit.

"N-Naruto-kun, I-" the poor kunoichi stuttered, her head bowed. "I b-brought uhm-" she paused, hesitantly.

"Huh?" the blond inquired, raising his eyebrow, still wondering why she was there.

"-S-Since you've b-been training, I-I thought y-you might b-be hungry and… and…" she'd tried her best, but couldn't finish it. Hinata just stretched her arms and offered the confused boy the dumplings. Naruto looked from the offerings to the girl.

"These are for me?" the blond asked incredulous. The dark haired girl nodded vigorously. _'Why would she do that?' _the boy asked himself, not quite getting the gesture. Hinata was suffocating in anxiousness, waiting for the Kyuubi container to say something, anything!

"Uhm, thanks Hinata." The blond responded finally, as he grabbed the plate. He sat on the ground and put the plate on his lap. He was about to eat the first dumpling when he noticed Hinata was still standing.

"Don't you wanna join me?" he offered, looking up at her. Hinata jumped in surprise.

"Uhm… I-I don't want to b-bother you." The pupil-less girl replied, playing with her fingers shyly.

"C'mon, I could use some company." The blond said with a grin. The girl still doubted. "It can't be that bad." The girl finally gave in and sat down next to him with her arms embracing her knees. Now that Hinata had sat down, the blond started digging in his food.

"Did you make them?" he asked Hinata, who was in a daze, watching him eat. She snapped out of it as soon as she heard his voice.

"I h-helped." She responded, looking away.

"They're really nice." He noted, as he took another bite. "I shouldn't be surprised; after all you're a great cook." Hinata reddened at the compliment, but the blond didn't seem to notice as he was already on his fourth.

"I was getting kinda hungry, you know?" The timid girl gave him a small smile.

"I-It's nothing." She assured. The blond finished his treat and stood up.

"Well, I should continue training. Still need to master something." the whiskered genin said. The girl nodded as she stood up also.

"W-water walking, is it?" she wondered. The blond turned to her.

"Yeah, you know something about that?" he asked hopeful. "Can you walk on the water?"

"W-well, I-I uhm, hai." She responded timidly.

"Hey, can you show me how you do it? I think that'd really help." the blond said. "All I got for was a verbal lecture." _'And a very annoying one.' _The blond though bitterly. Why in the world did she ask? She should have stayed quiet and let him alone. What if she screwed up in front of Naruto? The thought mortified her. Hinata bit her lower lip, unsure.

"Please." Naruto pleaded. "This time I'll leave my pants on." He joked. Hinata blushed at the comment and nodded, she just couldn't say no to anything he asked for. The boy smiled.

"Great!" the blond shouted cheerfully. "Let's go." He said, directing towards the river with a Hinata following him. The girl took a deep breath to relax. She sent chakra to her feet and start walking on the river calmly. She gave a few steps before she turned to the blond that was watching her carefully.

"J-just make the f-forces between y-your feet and the w-water surface equal u-using your chakra."

"Right." The blond said with a nod. He put both his feet on the water first. In the moment he began to walk his body trembled and he was starting to sink.

"You t-tense your c-chakra too much ." The girl noted, walking towards the blond and stepping near him. Naruto looked at her confused. "J-Just feel the water flowing and r-release the amount of e-energy it n-needs." She explained. _'Just feel the water huh?'_ He might as well give It a try. The blond did as she said and closed his eyes to relax. His shaking slowly ceased. It didn't feel that hard this way. Now time to walk. The container gave a step and stood still. Nothing happened. He was still standing. He gave another two without any problem.

"I'm walking." He said with a smile. With just a few directions he had done it. "Hinata, I'm walking!" The girl smiled at the blond jumping up and down childishly. But her smile was rapidly gone when she felt two strong arms embracing her. Naruto had just given her an unexpected hug of joy. An electric current spread all the way through the kunoichi's body. _'He's hugging me.' _Was all in the girl's head. _'He's-'_ Her face was filled with a heavy blush now. Oh boy…

'_**Splash' **_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A drop of water fell in Hyuuga Hinata's face.

"Hinata?"a familiar voice was calling her. She was cold and her clothes felt heavier than usual. She shifted a bit and felt grass underneath her. The dark haired Hyuuga slowly opened her eyes to see a pair of cerulean eyes looking at her in concern. _'Naruto-kun?' _she wondered confused. _'What is he doing here?' _

"Hinata." The blond repeated in an alarmed voice. The girl slowly sat up straight helped by the boy with a hand on her back, just in case.

"W-What happened?" the girl asked disconcerted.

"You fainted and sunk." Naruto responded alarmed, water dripping off his hair. "You ok?" he asked. The Hyuuga nodded slowly.

"I-I'm sorry, N-Naruto-kun." The raven haired girl said, embarrassed. Kami, he'd think she was a freak that faints because of everything.

"You don't have to apologize." he asked, still worried. Hinata kept quiet, looking at the ground. "You were just too tired from your trip from Konoha." The blond said with a sympathetic smile. Hinata looked at him shocked. Does he really think that? She pondered. Well, his deduction was just fine with her.

"It's getting dark. C'mon, let's get changed before we get sick." The blond said, helping the girl stand up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What the hell!?" were Kiba greeting words, as soon as he saw the drenched pair standing on the door frame. His eyes wide open, not knowing what to think. There was Naruto, with his shirt around his neck and his jacket was covering the blushing girl's shoulders. When the blond offered his jacket, she had opposed energetically, but the blond had insisted.

"What happened to you two?" asked Sakura rushing over said pair with a frown on her face. Sasuke and Shino regarded them with an arched eyebrow.

"Kami, you're soaking wet." came Tsunami's alarmed voice. "Wait right there, I'll bring a towel for each of you." She said as she turned on her feet to look for the towels.

"I-It was a-all my fault." The young heiress apologized, bowing her head.

"You can't blame yourself for fainting, Hinata." The blond said, looking at the girl. Sakura looked at him expectantly, as did Kiba.

"She was just showing me something but blacked out and fell to the river." He summarized. Kiba let out a sigh of relief but Sakura wasn't quite satisfied with his explanation. She was about to ask the blond something else when her green eyes landed on the boy's stomach.

"How is it that your abs are already starting to build up and Sasuke-kun's aren't?" the pink haired girl asked with her hands on her hips. Both Naruto and Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, not really caring about that kind of insignificant stuff like that, but suddenly the Uchiha's eyes widened as something came to his mind.

"Wait a minute! How do you know whether I have or I don't have abs?" the raven haired boy asked in an uncharacteristic alarmed tone. Sakura quickly clasped her hands over her mouth nerviously. A grin made its way to the blond's face in realization and let out a bark of laughter.

"I think Sakura's been stalking you Sasuke!" the blond said as he continued to laugh.

"Dude!" said Kiba howling with laughter. He might be an ass most of the time, but he did have a good sense of humor. Naruto thought. Sakura was blushing like mad, she looked like she had shrunk in embarrassment. Sasuke's face was of total shock. He knew he had fan-girls, some really obsessed, but stalking?

"I-I didn't want to, but Ino convinced me and-" her words couldn't be heard by the new round of laughter that filled the house.

"Kami, they're more!" the dog ninja said, rolling on the floor and tear's already forming in his eyes. From the couch, Shino had both eyebrows raised. What else had they seen? Asked Sasuke in his mind. This caused a more horrified look in the Uchiha's always stoic face. Naruto was never going to forget that face.

"There's probably a stalking club." The blond said, bending over and holding his sides. Besides him, Hinata had a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress her giggling but to no avail. _No no no no_ Sakura couldn't handle that humiliation anymore.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun!" She shrieked before she ran upstairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What are they up to this time?" Kurenai asked the masked ninja, as they heard the noise from downstairs. Kakashi didn't really care, as long it didn't involve him. They heard stomping steps coming from the stairs. Then they saw Sakura entering the girl's room rapidly, wearing a non-friendly face, muttering deadly threats to Naruto. Kakashi sighed.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to know." He responded lazily. The red eyed woman nodded in agreement and they returned to their training plan discussion.

"Sasuke you should be flattered." The blond managed to say, gasping for air. The dark eyed boy recovered from the initial shock and scowled at him.

"Shut the hell up, dobe." He said as he walked to the backyard door, exiting the house. The mirth had already died when Tsunami returned with two large towels and handed them to the couple.

"You better change your clothes immediately if you don't want to catch a cold. You can leave your wet clothes hanging on the ropes in the backyard. " The kids thanked her and parted in the direction of their respective rooms after Hinata returned the jacket to the blond.

"Dinner will be ready soon, so don't get too far." She added as she returned to the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dinner was the first time, since team seven's arrival, when there wasn't an uncomfortable atmosphere between Naruto and Inari. Maybe it was because the kid didn't comment about ninja matters, but mainly because the blond was too busy mocking Sasuke with stalking related comments, to which the Inuzuka would add something himself and then snicker.

Being the dining table average size, they had to split into other locations to eat their food. Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba and Shino were the ones who had to leave the table. Shino went outside to eat his food and feed his bugs. Sasuke decided to sit on the couch, but to his and Sakura's dismay, Naruto and Kiba decided to follow him, not willing to leave him alone when they still had so much to mock him about. Naruto wasn't the person that would go after someone and make fun of him. But the stoic Uchiha's situation was so hilarious that he still had more to tease him about. So the dog ninja and the Kyuubi container sat beside the seething Uchiha, and they started the torture on him.

It seemed awkward they were getting along. They were always trying to humiliate each other. It was nice to see them getting along. Hinata had thought from her seat at the table. Although it was at Sasuke's expense. She looked at the pink haired girl that was located in front of her. Every time a comment concerning Sasuke's harassment she winced and cursed. Poor girl, she tried to apologize to his stoic crush, but all she received as a response was a 'Hn' and the view of Sasuke's back.

He tried to ignore their comments as much as his patience let him, especially Naruto's that were the sharpest. He finished quickly, thanked for the food, sent hateful glares at his two laughing tormentors and left the house.

"Man, that was hilarious." muffled the Inuzuka, introducing more food into his mouth. "I think he's crying out there." The blond nodded.

"Well, he's got Shino to comfort him, you know?" The blond said with a smile on his face, finishing what was left on his plate. This earned another bark of laughter from Kiba.

"I can't believe your behavior towards Sasuke." Kurenai scolded from her seat on the table. "It's not right to make fun of other person's predicaments, especially your comrades." Sakura was glaring at them dangerously.

"All right, all right." The blond said with a smirk, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. "I think he's got enough."

"You're a jerk, you know that?" the pink haired girl spat.

"He, you're just mad Sasuke's gonna be more alert next time you want to see him naked." The blond replied, while washing his plate in the sink. Sakura blushed at the comment and said nothing. She promised herself never to follow the Uchiha genius ever again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond went upstairs after thanking Tsunami for the food. It was somewhat passed eight and the blond though he still had a few hours to hit some trees or rocks before he could go to sleep. He entered the boy's room, to find his sensei lying on his mattress, reading his favorite book. He could already move his arms, enough to hold his book high so that he could read.

"How's the book going?" asked the blond with a mischievous smile to his sensei. Kakashi narrowed his eyes but did not answer. Naruto chuckled as he went towards his respective mattress and browse over his bag that was lying on it. He took his iPod and left the room. _'Just wait till I can move Naruto.' _The grey haired man thought darkly to himself. _'You'll regret taking my Icha Icha.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This will do." The blond said in approval after checking on a big, fat tree he found not too far from the house. He took off his jacket and put his headphones on, already blasting with muffled music.

"Two thousands of each." He said cracking his knuckles, taking his stance and starting punch the thick and hard surface. Hitting trees or rocks was recommended by the imprisoned fox for hardening bones and developing a greater striking power to damaging opponents. Every two weeks he would increase the number of hits by five hundred, each time resisting even more, without crushing his bones. This was determined after he had fractured his hands because of trying to double his usual routine.

Reaching half of his accorded number of hits, blood was starting to leak from his knuckles and run through his fingers, but he did not mind as he continued to launch blows at the tree that had shattered spots formed from the force of Naruto's blows.

"Right, now with the legs." He said aloud, his respiration a bit agitated but still not tired. Ignoring the blood leaking from his battered hands, he stretched his legs a bit and kicked the side of the same tree.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond carried himself back to Tazuna's house at quite a slow pace. His soring legs, although bruised, were not as bad compared to his bloodied hands. Covered in cuts, bruises and dripping blood. He'd just pour some water and bandage it, waiting for them to be healed during the night. He entered the house by the backyard door. It seemed that they had gone to sleep, well most of, he sensed Kakashi flicking a page of his book and Sakura was walking outside, not too far from the house. Oh yeah, she was the first guarding.

He made his way to the kitchen and washed his wounds, grimacing slightly. He watched how the blood flowed with the falling water and tainted it red. He heard someone walking down the stairs and turned his head. It was Hinata. _'How did she notice me?'_ the blond asked himself, he had been careful not to make any noise and maintaining his chakra suppressed.

"Naruto-kun." He heard her calling his name as she approached him.

"Hinata, I thought you were asleep." He said turning to face her, hands shielded by his back. She stopped a few feet away from him.

"Uhm I-I waw… well w-worried." She flushed at saying this and started fidgeting with her fingers.

"Uh? Why was that?" he asked confusedly. Why would she care?

"W-well b-because there m-might be ninja o-out there w-waiting for attacking us." The girl responded with a lot of effort.

"Heh, don't worry 'bout that, I was just training." He told her with a meekly smile, scratching his head. Maybe It was just her nature to be caring for others. The boy reasoned. The girl relaxed but then she saw the blond's bloodied hand and alarmed.

"W-what happened to your hand?" she asked very concerned. _'Aw shit.' _Seeing himself discovered, he took out both of his hands from his back.

"It's nothing." The blond reassured, showing them to her, as if it wasn't a big deal. "See?" The girl gasped at the sight. She approached him to get a better look. Suddenly, an idea popped to her mind.

"W-wait here." She told him, hurrying towards the stairs and to the girl's room without making any noisy, not giving him time to say a thing. _'Now what?' _he wondered disconcerted. After a moment, Hinata returned with a small recipient in her hands.

"What's that?" the blond asked intrigued.

"I-It's a medical salve." She responded shyly, approaching to the blond and opening the recipient.

"L-lend me y-your hand." The dark haired kunoichi requested with her face flushed.

"Hinata I don't think it's neces-"

"I-It will help." She insisted. The fox's healing powers were enough to all of his wounds but he couldn't explain that to her. The blond sighed in defeat, for some reason he couldn't deject Hinata's help. The blond stretched his right hand towards the girl. Hinata took his hand into hers and applied the ointment gently on his wounds and did the same with his left hand. His scratches immediately began to heal. His skin's damages were closing up quickly, leaving no trace of any injury. Both kids were startled by the speed of the medicine, Naruto not that much because he knew the reason, but Hinata had never seen the medicine act that fast.

"Wow, where did you find that stuff?" the whiskered kid asked, looking at his hands in amazement. Hinata was wondering about the effects of the salve in the blond but his words made her stop thinking.

"Uhm I-I made it." She replied looking down at her feet.

"Really? It works really well, Hinata. I didn't know you could made this." Hinata's blush intensified at his compliment.

"I-I thought it might h-help my team, I always b-bring some in c-case." Naruto nodded.

"Thanks Hinata." The whiskered boy said with a smile and Hinata also gave him a small smile.

"Why are you two still awake?" Kurenai asked from the stairs. "You should rest for your guard."

"Gomen." Both kids said at unison and went to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 14

Naruto felt someone kicking him on the ribs. He groaned and rolled over his mattress, away from whoever was disturbing his sleep.

"Naruto wake up!" team eight's sensei yelled in the blond's direction.

"Alright, alright." The blond said in an annoyed tone as he opened his eyes and straighten up. He looked around and found Shino's and Kiba's spots empty. The only one that was still in bed was Kakashi, obviously.

"What is it?" he asked with a yawn. He was tired from last night. His legs still ache from his training though not that much. Also he had to wake up at three in the morning to guard the house. Man, next time he'd just summon a Kage Bunshin to replace him.

"We are going to start our tree climbing training, so-"

"I can do that already." the whiskered boy interrupted.

"I know." the dark haired woman hissed, a bit annoyed. "That's why you're to accompany our client today with Hinata and protect him, got it?" the blond nodded.

"Okay, now get ready and eat your breakfast, you're off in twenty minutes." After that said, she left the room, so the blond could ready himself up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Good morning Naruto-chan, I've prepared eggs and bacon for you." Greeted the smiling black haired woman from the kitchen. The blond smiled and blushed a bit in embarrassment at his new nickname.

"Thanks Miss." He said and went to sit down. He found Tazuna, Hinata and Inari sitting in the dining table, eating their breakfast. It seemed that the rest were already gone.

"G-Good Morning, N-Naruto-kun." The shy Hyuuga said with a small smile.

"'Morning." The blond spoke, finding a seat next to her.

"H-How are y-your hands?" the girl asked, looking at the blond's hands.

"As good as new." He responded, showing her his fists as a demonstration.

"I never imagined that you could wake up so early, being such a lazy ass." The old bridge builder mocked, already with a flask of sake at hand. The blond chuckled.

"Yeah well, believe it old man." The blond said after taking a drink from his orange juice. "I'm glad I can go with you today, so I can see how an intoxicated person is able to build a bridge."

"When you've spent so many years drinking, you develop a high tolerance and lucidity level brat!" Tazuna said as he laughed softly. Naruto grinned and shook his head.

"Inari, time to get going to school." Tsunami said, walking towards him, handing him his bento box for lunch and giving him a peck on the cheek .The kid received the box and nodded obediently, he stood up and picked up his backpack.

"Bye mom, bye gramps." He said as he walked through the door.

"Learn something useful!" Tazuna said, waving his arm to his grandson.

"Finish up kid. We'll be leaving soon." The old man said as he stood up and left the table.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The trio made their way among the impoverished streets. Humble merchants had their scarce products being offered on their wagons. Indigents were lying all the way down the streets, asking for money or food. Misery was spread all over the air. It was not a nice view. _'This Gato guy must be really sucking dry this place.' _The blond thought darkly to himself. Hinata had spared some money to a kid asking for charity. '_Hopefully that bridge can make a difference.'_ He thought, gazing at the wide bridge ahead of them. Working men and a few cranes were positioned over the bridge. A grey haired man, probably around Tazuna's age came towards them.

"Ah Chiichi! I see you have come early." The old builder greeted with a grin. "How's your section going?" Chiichi had a somber expression in his face.

"Tazuna-san, they… they have left." He told his superior.

"What?! Your whole party?" Tazuna asked incredulous.

"Hai, all my forty men. They were afraid that Gato would come after them and their families, and decided it was better to abandon their work." The man's eyes dropped as he said that. Tazuna seemed torn apart.

"I'm very sorry. I tried to convince them, but they refused."

"It's ok, Chiichi." Tazuna said with a half hearted smile. "We will just have to find more men."

"But we have all the volunteers we could found, how are we going to find forty replaceable men?" The bridge builder sighed. The genins looked at each other.

"Maybe we could help." Naruto said, taking a step ahead, catching the older men attention.

"But you're just kids!" exclaimed the older man.

"We are ninja." Countered the blond. "I could make forty clones. You and Hinata just have to give them directions." Chiichi looked at Tazuna puzzled. The old man seemed to be considering it.

"All right brat, if you insist. But you'll have to put on helmets." The kids nodded.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Forty Naruto's appeared around the group. The workers stared at the clones in astonishment.

"So what do we have to do?" a chorus of Naruto's asked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Workers and villagers stopped by to marvel the work of forty orange-dressed pre-teens carrying materials and accommodating them in their respective spots. The Narutos worked faster than any of the veterans operating in the bridge building. Some clones carried two girders at once and threw them to some other clones working on a higher level, not even minding the pulleys that were hanging for their help.

Chiichi, the constructor showed the clones the blueprints of each structure so that they had an idea where everything was going. Even the young Hyuuga heiress was involved in the construction. The constructor asked Hinata for help, telling her if she could give some directions to the clones and guide them in their chores. She used her byakugan to lead the clones into accommodating some beams into their respective holes filled with cement, so that there were no mistakes made.

'_So that's why she can always see people coming.' _The blond deduced, after witnessing the Hyuuga heiress eye technique.

The real Naruto was sitting on the metal railing, supervising his clones' labors. He would gaze towards Tazuna a few times to check he was out of danger.

Sometime later, Sakura arrived, informing that being the first mastering the tree climbing exercise, she had been sent to help the pair watch over the old bridge builder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They'd been working for over five hours more or less. Naruto was waiting for Hinata and Sakura to check their surroundings, in case there was someone planning on attacking them.

"Something odd?" the blond asked with his arms crossed to the approaching girl. Hinata de-activated her blood limit and shook her head.

"Good." the whiskered boy replied.

"I hate to admit it kid." Tazuna said walking towards his escort. "But that trick of yours is very useful. I'm amazed they all can stand so much work. If you could work like this every day, this bridge could be finished in a week or less." He prized, his eyes somewhat watering at the thought of the bridge being finished.

"It'll be good training." The blond said with a smile.

"Well, it's time for lunch. You'd better tell them to stop for a while before you collapse." The blue eyed boy nodded.

"I'll just dispel them." he made a hand sign and called his clones back to non-existence. The area was immediately filled with puffs of smoke and after its clearing, there were no clones in sight. Suddenly the blond was hit with an extreme fatigue, it felt as if a ton of bricks had just fell upon him. The boy found himself covered in sweat and he dropped to his knee, breathing hard, his throat felt awfully dry.

"Naruto-kun!" the girl next to him said with concern evident in her voice. She knelt next to him, and watch in anxiousness.

"Water." he demanded, in a raspy voice. Hinata quickly browse in her pouch and quickly handed him her flask of water. The blond drank thankfully, savoring the liquid as it ran through his throat.

"Thanks." He said after emptying the container.

"A-are you ok?" she asked worriedly, taking the recipient he was handing her. Tazuna was looking at him in concern. He took out his own canteen of water and drank all of it. The whiskered boy tried to recover his breath and ran the back of his hand through his mouth, eliminating the excess of liquid left.

"Yeah." He finally said. He stood up slowly, stumbling as he tried to regain his composure.

"M-maybe it's better for y-you to sit down." The girl advised shyly. The blond supported himself leaning on the metal railing besides him.

"Nah, I'm fine." He wiped a bead of sweat rolling down his face with his forearm.

"What the hell was that?" he asked confused, it was the first time that happened.

"Y-you don't know." She asked surprised he didn't know the effects of his own technique. The blond shook his head.

"Well, uhm… when y-you use kage bunshins and they are d-dispelled, the knowledge and experiences they h-have recollected in their existence come backs to y-you." The dark haired girl explained. The blond's eyes widened at that. He hadn't really noticed that advantage of the clones.

"So I also accumulate the exhaustion of my clones, right?" The girl nodded.

"I see." It was the first time he had felt so tired after using his shadow clones. _'Maybe because I hadn't used them that long.' _The blond reflected. He had them working for five hours straight. If it was just him during that time, he wouldn't get tired so much. But if every individual clone gets tired and then sends its exhaustion to the jutsu performer, the real Naruto would feel the exhaustion multiplied by forty. _'Hmm…' _he'd look further into this. Maybe Kakashi-sensei would have some useful information. In that instant, Naruto's stomach emitted a loud growl, breaking the blond's chain of thought.

"I think we'll be having lunch now." The blond informed with a cheeky grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blond ate eagerly from the bento box Tsunami had prepared each of them. The rectangular recipient contained two compartments, half of which was filled with rice and the other half was had vegetables such as boiled broccoli and carrots warped in cooked meat. The demon container rarely ate any vegetables, he didn't consider them very appetizing due to its lack of flavor, but his weariness led to a hunger that didn't leave space for complaints in his stomach. He stuffed the food in his mouth, waving off a few of the reprimands from his pink haired teammate, criticizing his eating manners.

The blond finished his lunch rather quickly; when he turned to his two female comrades they were finishing half of their meal. He didn't feel quite satisfied but at least his hunger was appeased. Hinata seemed to notice this and shyly offered what was left from her lunch to her crush. The blond sincerely thanked her but rejected her offer, saying that he couldn't take her lunch; after all she was also tired from working with his clones. But the young Hyuuga heiress firmly insisted (in her own timid way), claiming that he needed the food more than she did, working more than any of them. The blond found himself incapable of wining his little argument against the dark haired girl and ate her food obediently. An amused Sakura watched the whole thing with a small smirk in her face, but decided not to say anything, at least not in front of Hinata. Considering her shyness, the green eyed kunoichi knew how she would react if she teased them.

After they'd all finished their food, Tazuna asked them if they could go to the market and get some ingredients for her daughter. The girls accepted, but the blond said he would stay accompanying the old man. After they were gone, the blond informed the bridge builder he intended to continue working. Tazuna was about to complain but Naruto was already summoning the same number of shadow clones as before. The older man, although pleased the boy was willing to help him, sighed in exasperation.

"Very well." He accepted, placing his yellow helmet on his head. "But it won't be my responsibility if you end up dead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Three hours after, the workers were gathering their stuff and taking their leave. Some of them were taking backwards glances to the short blond's clones that were still focused on their part of the bridge. Sakura, Hinata and Tazuna were urging the boy to finish already, specially the Hyuuga girl. After Sakura and herself had returned with the ingredients Tazuna-san had asked them to buy, Hinata stared horrified at the young pre-teens dressed in orange jumpsuits working again in their jobs and rushed towards the real blond, stating he was in no condition to continue working. The charming boy just had to show her one of his reassuring smiles to made the worried girl froze in place with a bright blush in her face and disable her ability to talk.

"Hurry up, Naruto! If we take too long, they might think something happened to us." Sakura scowled at the blond, who was watching a few of his clones finish accommodating one beam in its place.

"Fine." The blond coarsely replied. Hinata watched in uneasiness as the blond performed a hand sign and dispelled his replicas. Again, Naruto felt his energy being drained from his body, luckily this time wasn't as exhausting as the first. He unzipped his jacket to let the fresh breeze reach his body.

"Let's go then." The whiskered pre-teen said after he finished the contents of his water canteen once more. They began walking when the blond spoke.

"What are those for?" the orange clad ninja inquired, pointing to a pair of crutches hanging on Tazuna's shoulder.

"These are for your sensei. It's time he gets his lazy ass out of bed." He laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they returned they found the remaining members of team eight already in the house. After mastering the tree climbing exercise, they installed some traps near the house. The blond asked for the stoic Uchiha. To his surprise, Sasuke was still trying to get the climbing exercise right, the dog ninja informed with a smirk. Kurenai informed him that Sasuke just left the spot to eat lunch and immediately after left again.

"He hasn't stopped since." The red eyed jounin instructor said.

'_He must be pissed.' _The blond thought as he directed where Sasuke was training. The Uzumaki knew very well Sasuke's sense of pride. He needed to be the best in everything. Always. Back in the Academy, the Uchiha genius had only shown interest in beating everyone in everything he could. Being surpassed, not only by Kiba and Shino but Sakura also, must have been very frustrating for him.

And there he was. Rushing over a tree and starting going upward, until his chakra control stopped him. He promptly used his kunai to mark the tree before he fell.

'_Shit.' _The dark haired Uchiha cursed under his breath. _'Why is it so difficult?'_ He panted and looked at the high tree with countless slashes in its bark running upward.

"You know." He heard a familiar voice said nearby. "Rushing like that will make you lose focus on your chakra."

"What do you want?" he asked harshly. He had had enough mocking from the Inuzuka earlier that day.

"Uhm, nothing." The blond responded lazily, his back leaning on a tree. "Just stopping by."

"Go away!" he spat. "I don't need your help."

"Fine. Just wanted to give you some advice." He turned to leave. "But you better know how to do this by the time Zabuza strikes again." He warned in a serious tone. "We'll need to be stronger next time." Sasuke closed his eyes. When Zabuza had attacked, he couldn't do anything. He just stood there with Sakura and the bridge builder, watching their sensei fight. He clenched his fists. There was nothing he could do, just watch.

He was an Uchiha, and the Uchihas were supposed to be powerful. How would he fulfill his oath of killing his brother if he couldn't climb a freaking tree?

"What…" he sighed. "What do I have to do?" he asked. Naruto smirked slightly but made it disappear quickly. Wounding his pride will lead to nothing good at all.

"Just focus." He responded as he started leaving the area.

"Is that all!?" he snapped. "I've been focusing all day long!"

"Then focus more." The golden haired boy replied. "It works, trust me." And with that, the blond left the outraged Uchiha alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"How's Sasuke-kun doing?" a worried Sakura asked Naruto as soon as he stepped over the house floor.

"He'll get there." The blond said distractedly. Sakura nodded and went to the backyard. She had wanted to go and offer him her support, but the way he looked at her when she was in the top branch of her tree just five minutes after Kurenai had explained them what to do, told her it wasn't a good idea. That, and the fact that he discovered she had stalked him. Just then, they heard someone climbing down the stairs rather slowly.

"Whoa, Kakashi-sensei!" the blond greeted with a smile to the grey haired man in crutches. "Thought you had gone handicap."

"Well I didn't. Sorry to let you down, Naruto." He replied lazily as he made his way towards him. "I heard something very interesting, concerning your clones today."

"Yeah, It was the first time that I used them for that long actually." The blond said rubbing the back of his neck.

"I see." He looked around to make sure no one was listening. "There aren't a lot of ninjas that can maintain their Kage Bunshins for that long without suffering from extreme exhaustion and chakra depletion… even death."

"But given your vast chakra reserves and your… special condition," He emphasized on the last part, which made Naruto's face became serious. Sometimes he liked to forget people knew about his prisoner, luckily Kakashi-sensei didn't look at him the villagers did. "I seems you are able to last longer than anyone with that jutsu."

"I was thinking on training with them." The whiskered boy said. "You know, I'll become stronger faster."

"Hmm… I wouldn't recommend doing that just now. Your actual training regimen's improvement rate is already high enough. If you use your clones you may really hurt yourself, no matter how amazing your healing abilities are." The masked jounin explained. He noticed the blond's face fell. "When you're ready, I myself will teach you how to use them in the most effective way." Naruto's features brightened up.

"But for now," he said as he headed for the door. "Try not to use your clones that much." The blond was silent for a moment.

"I will continue to help in the bridge construction." He stated.

"Just don't overdrive yourself." The sharingan user said without looking back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 15

Three days had passed since Naruto's first experience with Kage Bunshin's side effects. The occupants of the bridge builder's household had been rather active. Team seven and eight distributed their duties. While team seven looked for Tazuna, team eight would stay guarding his daughter and grandson. Inari had stopped attending school after the genjutsu specialist recommended that he stayed in the house, she didn't want to risk Inari being attacked by Gato's men.

Concerning the nocturnal shifts, Naruto in an attempt of gaining sleeping time, one night created a clone to do the guarding in his place, just to be stabbed and dispelled by an annoyed Kurenai that had appeared out of nowhere. The blond had laughed nervously, trying to say something to calm her down but team eight's instructor had punished him, by making his turn double. The blond groaned and begged for mercy. When he realized Kurenai wasn't going to retreat her penalty, He turned to Kakashi for support, but his jounin teacher just continued to read his novel, ignoring his student's cries for help with his visible eye wrinkling, proving the legendary sharingan user was smiling underneath his mask.

After Sasuke mastered the tree climbing exercise, he joined Naruto on helping finishing building the bridge with the excuse that there was nothing better to do. The blond just smirked. Kakashi, after regaining all of his strength and being able to walk again, would just stand aside while he read his infamous dirty books, with a scowling Sakura by his side. The pink haired girl still find it hard to believe that her sensei, the one who had fought Zabuza and possessed a sharingan eye, was a pervert that would giggle like a girl at something he read in the book of his.

Kiba, sick of guarding the house every day, demanded to his sensei why their team couldn't also escort the damn old man. His red eyed sensei had explained in a rather exasperated tone, that it was team seven's original mission to escort the bridge builder, Hokage-sama's orders for them was backing them up. The tattooed brown haired boy growled angrily but kept his mouth shut, much to Kurenai's relief. During the dog ninja's outrage, he had asked Hinata for her support, but the girl had been deeply in thought to notice his need for her attention.

Since Kakashi-san recovery and Sasuke-kun finished training, the Hyuuga girl no longer needed to join team seven in their duty of protecting Tazuna, and therefore, she was called by her sensei to protect the house with the rest of her team. This, of course, meant she wouldn't spend the day with the sarcastic blond. Now, she would just catch a glimpse of him when he arrived and left almost immediately to his training that could last hours. She wondered how he could still stand on his feet, working all day and training all night, his stamina seemed endless.

She had enjoyed spending time with him on the bridge, walking back to the house, just observing him discretely and helping him in any way she could. If Naruto needed her eyes, Hinata would lend him her eyes. If Naruto ran out of water, Hinata would quickly give him her flask, just for one his flashing smiles and a 'thanks' from him. She realized she would do anything for him. _'Anything...' _The Hyuuga girl repeated in her mind, pondering the meaning of that.

She had heard, back in the Academy days, Sakura and Ino debating over who would sacrifice the more for Uchiha Sasuke. She had heard from pink haired Haruno pronounce the same words she was thinking.

"_I would do anything for him." _The green eyed girl declared with great devotion. _"Because I love him." _She had added immediately after. Hinata gasped and her big lavender eyes widened. Did she really? Of course she knew she had a rather gigantic crush towards the Kyuubi container. I mean, who didn't? … Well maybe Naruto, for some unknown reason, was the only one in the whole village that was oblivious to the fact. But love… that couldn't be…. Could it? Was it possible that her admiration had somehow evolved into such a powerful feeling? In that moment, Kiba called rudely, not liking to being ignored, much less by his own teammate. Ruining the dark haired girl chain of thoughts. She'd had time to ponder about it later.

Meanwhile, Naruto had taken Kakashi's advice and only used his shadow clones when he was working on the bridge. After four days of working in the bridge, he felt less tired every time he puffed his clones out of existence. His training course had continued as normal. The fox hadn't intervened much. He had communicated with the blond once to show him a new series of taijutsu forms and made him start practicing.

Within the blond's mind, the demon would observe Naruto's training, throw some sarcastic comments on him and occasionally correct him if he detected a flaw in his movements, which by the way, were getting faster by the second. Carrying the weights for over two months now, the blond didn't even notice them holding down his body. The Kyuubi had informed the blond that as soon as he was back in Konoha, he needed to add more weight so his body would continue to gain strength and speed.

'How much this time?' the blond asked the fox warily, his first days with his weights still fresh in his mind.

"**How about we double your actual weight?" **the fox suggested and smiled sadistically at the sight of his jailor's eyes opening wide.

'Thirty pounds!? My limbs are gonna fall off!" the whiskered kid exclaimed, nearly in panic.

"**For a normal boy your age, maybe." **Kyuubi stated. **"Luckily, you're far from normal." **The huge fox's sinister chuckle rumbled in his mind as Naruto's face paled. The blond made an effort to put aside the thoughts of his future torment and continue sparring with his clones.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean is not like that!?" a group of six golden haired pre-teens demanded.

"You didn't place it properly!" Tazuna replied angrily, pointing at a misplaced beam.

"Just for a few goddamn inches!" the blond in the front said. His partners agreed behind him. The bridge builder pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"OI BRAT, CALM DOWN YOUR CLONES!" the man bellowed to the crowd of yellow and orange. The whiskered kid turned towards him and sighed for the nth time in the day. _'They can't do anything right for themselves.' _The blond thought as he directed towards the fuss. Ever since Hinata wasn't helping him anymore, the clones had been having a hard time placing the materials where they should be, and his replicas becoming cranky after a few hours didn't help. Chiichi was doing his best to guide them but it didn't even lay a scratch on the effectiveness and precision the byakuugan held.

"What is it now?" he asked tiredly, running a hand through his hair.

"We are this close to finish the bridge kid." The bearded man said, making a gesture with his index finger and his thumb to accentuate his point. "I want this to be build right in every aspect, If your counterparts don't follow directions, then everything me and my fellows have worked for will fall down!" he grimacing at the image of his beloved bridge being destroyed.

"You heard him." The blond said, turning to the clones. "Place it the way it's supposed to be." The clones scowled, and where about to complain when their creator sent a _'If you don't do as I say, you'll be puffed out of existence'_ look. The replicas subdued to the threat and turned to work, but not before muttering something about oppression matters. It hadn't even passed thirty seconds when he received the memories of a clone that had been dispelled by Sasuke on the opposite side of the bridge. The clone had been carrying a long beam on his shoulder, when it turned around and hit Sasuke in the head. The Uchiha punched the laughing clone in the face.

"I'll be having lunch now." He called over his shoulder to the bridge builder, who just nodded. _'It was much easier with Hinata around.' _He thought as he dispelled his clones and received a new round of stress.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey! You've got your own food!" Sakura shrilled, spotting Naruto trying to take a piece of grilled fish from her lunch box when he thought she wasn't looking. The pink haired girl smacked him on the head, which cause a bump to begin forming. The blond scowled as he rubbed his sore spot.

"I already ate mine."The blond said, looking at his empty bento box in his hands. "I'm still hungry."

"Well, too bad. It's your own fault you have accustomed your stomach to eat five times more than what you really need." She lectured, returning to her lunch. Naruto turned to Sasuke pleadingly.

"I think you already know the answer." Sasuke said, not even looking at the blond. The whiskered boy groaned.

"It was much better with Hinata around." The blond said bitterly, as he slumped backwards, gazing at the blue sky. "At least she would give me some of her lunch."

"Off course she would." She commented slyly. Sasuke nodded besides her in agreement. Tazuna's chuckle was heard from across them understandingly. Naruto pulled himself up again, sending his teammates a blank stare.

"Huh?" he asked. Sakura sighed and shook her head. Sasuke stared at his comrade for a moment, _'Unbelievable.' _he thought. The blond was about to ask something else when he noticed Kakashi tense up.

"What is it?" Sakura asked his teacher whose chopsticks stopped in the middle of their way to his "mouth". Apparently, Kakashi's paranoia of people seeing his face had led him to the extreme of setting a genjutsu over his mask, so that the food seemed to go through his mask. The atmosphere started to get foggy. The masked jounin's eyes narrowed. _'So he's finally here.' _he thought to himself as he stood up.

"Tazuna-san, don't get away from us." He told the old man, who started to shake slightly. "Naruto, evacuate every person on the bridge right now." He said seriously. Naruto nodded and stood up.

"I don't think that would be necessary." A raspy voice said. Team seven observed a tall figure emerged from within the mist. "Haku's already taking care of them." Cold sweat began trickling from Tazuna's body. _'Haku?' _the blond wondered, taking out a kunai from his pouch and taking a defense stance next to the bridge builder. His teammates followed suit. A presence made its way towards them. It moved fast. The presence swirled rapidly, making only a blurry image of the person. _'Oh yeah, that guy.' _Naruto thought as he recognized the incomer as he stopped moving and stood next to Zabuza.

"Did you kill them?" The man covered in bandages asked to his partner, already knowing the answer. Tazuna's shoulders tensed up, fearing for his friends' fate.

"No." The masked boy replied curtly. Team seven and its client let out a collective sight of relieve.

"Typical." Zabuza said, but Haku wasn't facing him anymore, his attention had shifted to the orange clad ninja.

"Hello again." He greeted in his soft voice. "I apologize for fleeing on our earlier encounter, but this time it won't happen again." Naruto frowned at him.

"I hope so." The blond responded. Zabuza looked at the blond. _'So this is the boy that fought against Haku. He must be good if didn't get killed.' _

"Let's start." Zabuza said after a moment. The genins stiffened.

"Watch for Tazuna." Kakashi reminded his team, not taking his eyes off the missing-nin. _'I can't afford letting him alive again.' _

"You should also watch for yourselves." A chorus of voices said, coming from every direction. _'Shit, why can't I never feel this guy coming?' _Naruto thought as he looked at the six clones of Zabuza surrounding them and prepared to attack.

"Leave them to me." Sasuke spoke, already on the move. He leapt forwards and slashed the clones with his kunai in a blur. _'You've improved Sasuke.' _Kakashi thought as the clones melted in water. _'Sasuke's so strong!' _Sakura shouted in her mind. _'An Uchiha.' _The missing-nin thought as he recognized the Uchiha logo on the back of Sasuke's shirt.

"Haku, you will fight the Uchiha." He ordered to his shorter companion. "Prove that your kekkei genkai is better than his." The long haired boy nodded and stepped forward. Sasuke smirked. _'Let's see if he is as strong as Naruto says he is.'_

"Wait, your fight is with me." The blond interjected. He knew Sasuke was strong but he wasn't match against Haku.

"Naruto you already had your chance and you lost it." The dark haired genin said to his teammate. "Now it's my turn." Naruto growled.

"Naruto-san, I'm sorry, but I'll have to make you wait." The blond turned towards Haku. "We will fight, I promise. But first, I need to do as commanded." Haku reassured him, taking out a pair of senbons.

"You shouldn't make promises you're not gonna be able to keep." Sasuke spat, as he charged forward, angry that his opponent thought he had already won before they even start his fight. The two dark haired boys darted against each other and start clashing their weapons. Naruto stepped forward ready to intervene but was stopped by Kakashi placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You should trust Sasuke. He has improved and you've noticed." The masked jounin said as he watched his student . The blond glared at the two fighting forms. _'It's not that I don't trust him.' _He was tempted to say. _'It's just that that guy is in a whole other level.' _

"Fine." He said. "But if it turns too dangerous, I'm coming in." Kakashi nodded, smiling behind his mask at Naruto's concern for his teammate.

'_The kid is fast. It was to be expected from an Uchiha.' _Zabuza thought from his place as he watched Haku being kicked in the face by Sasuke. Haku slammed one of his feet in a puddle his water clones had left after being defeated. The water was suspended in the air and was reshaped as a bunch of needles. Sakura stiffened at the sight of the needles flying towards the Uchiha, just to relax when Sasuke pumped some chakra to his feet to leap upward in the last second dodging them and kicking the masked guy in the face. _'Just as I thought.' _The Uchiha smirked at his opponent's from lying on the floor. _'Naruto was exaggerating about this guy's abilities.' _

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. _'He formed ice needles out of the water.' _He examined. As far as he knew, ninjas were only able to control the four elements. He had never heard anything about ice manipulation.

"Haku, get serious." The Momochi ordered his pupil, wanting to see the Uchiha's downfall. Haku stood on his feet and nodded.

"HiJutsu, Makyou HyouShou*." The masked boy said calmly after a single hand seal. Suddenly, chakra started swirling around the long haired boy's body. He made a single hand seal and the water surrounding them started to float in the middle of the air. Instead of needles, thick, rectangular blocks of ice started to take shape. The blocks gathered around Sasuke and Haku, forming a big dome. _'Mirrors?' _the young Uchiha asked himself inwardly.

"You fought well. Unfortunately, you are no match against my secret technique." The masked boy said as he "entered" one of the mirrors. "This will end soon." Sasuke snorted at his words but said nothing. He prepared himself for whatever was about to come.

Kakashi was looking at the mirror structure dumbstruck. Where had this kid come from? Controlling ice was impossible for average ninja, even for elite jounin that could manipulate more than one element. Ice manipulation. The only thing that could explain that ability was-

"Kekkei genkai." Zabuza finished his thoughts for him. Kakashi looked at him astonished. So that was it. A blood limit, passed from generation to generation.

"I was very lucky." The bandaged man said with a chuckle. "Found him on the streets. His father killed his mother and tried to kill him, just because he hated their blood limit. He eliminated his father and then ran away. That's when I took him with me. I never imagine I could run into such a powerful tool."

"Bastard." Naruto spat. Zabuza turned to him. "Treating someone as a tool…" he said with disgust. "He even saved your life." The bandaged ninja looked at the blond with an amused expression on his face. Sakura nodded behind Naruto.

"Say whatever you want kid, but that's the way the world works." Naruto was about to reply when he heard Sasuke's cries from inside the mirror structure. _'Damn.'_

"Sasuke-kun!" The pink haired girl yelled, stepping forward, determined on helping him, but before she could advance, the blond placed his arm in front of her, restricting her from going any further. She didn't have to ask, she immediately understood the foolishness of her wanting to go over to the battle.

"I'll help him." Naruto said, with a serious look on his face. "You stay here and take care of Tazuna." Sakura nodded, placing all her trust in the blond.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Haku's finished with him." Zabuza said with a smile under his bandaged face, gripping the handle of his sword that was hanging in his back. The whiskered boy growled at him. In that moment, another round of cries coming from the Uchiha was heard again.

"I think it's time to start our fight." Kakashi said stepping forward. He looked to Naruto over his shoulder. "If you stay outside the dome, you may be able to help Sasuke. Find out how the jutsu works, maybe you discover a weakness."

Naruto nodded, thankful to his sensei. The blond darted towards the prison at his full speed, bumping chakra to his feet for more speed. Zabuza launched after him, but Kakashi materialized right in front of him. The Mist missing-nin emitted a low growl.

"Fine, we will finish our fight this time." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not like the kid has a chance against Haku, anyways. He's even stronger than me." He added darkly. Kakashi's eye widened. _'I need to finish him quickly if I want to help Naruto and Sasuke.' _He glared at him and pulled his hitai ite to reveal the infamous sharingan.

"I won't be fooled by your sharingan this time." Zabuza assured. "*Kirigakure no Jutsu!" Thick mist started to form around them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke had one knee on the ground, panting heavily, his aspect deplorable. His clothes were torn in every corner and needles were sticking out of his body. Blood was dripping from his wounds. That was Sasuke's situation when Naruto arrived.

"Sasuke!" the blond called gritting his teeth as he ran towards him. The Uchiha lifted his eyes from the ground and towards his comrade.

"Don't!" he yelled, raising his hand, gesturing Naruto to stop. "We won't stand a chance if he traps you too." The blond halted and looked at the mirrors. Haku's back was reflected in all of them.

"How-" the blond started to ask.

"It's some kind of jutsu that allows him to transport between the ice mirrors at high speeds." Sasuke started to explain. The reflections of the long haired ninja disappeared to reveal the real one on the mirror nearest to Naruto. The masked ninja turned from inside the mirror to look at the newcomer.

"You've come to help your friend." He stated. The Uchiha tried to take advantage of his distraction and started running towards the opposite side of the dome, knowing Haku would kill him if he stayed in the prison of ice. "I'm sorry but that isn't going to be possible."

In a blink of an eye, Haku had disappeared from the ice mirror and appeared on the opposite mirror of the prison, the one the dark haired genin had been directing to escape. Naruto heard Sasuke groaned loudly. A new round of senbon needles had appeared magically on the Uchiha's body. _'Such speed.' _The blond thought with wide eyes. _'I didn't even see him move. Appearing and disappearing in an instant. He even had time to launch more needles at Sasuke. It's like he's teleporting.' _

"I've already try fire attacks against his mirrors." Sasuke informed as he spat some blood on the ground and stood up shakily. "It was useless. We need to do something Naruto." The blond looked at his comrade.

"_If you stay outside the dome, you may be able to help Sasuke. Find out how the jutsu works, maybe you discover a weakness." _Kakashi had said. _'I know how the jutsu works already.' _The blond thought to himself. _'It just consists of lifting ice mirrors so the user can reside in them.' _The whiskered boy deduced. But as simple as it sounded, the deadliness of the technique rested in Haku's speed. _'Pure speed.' _The blond thought, as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. He rolled up his right sleeve to reveal his wrist weight and started taking it off. _'I may move faster.' _He threw his four weights aside, feeling lighter. _'But it won't be enough to catch up with this guy.' _

"I didn't want to kill you." Haku informed, reflecting himself again on all the mirrors. "But they are Zabuza-sama's orders." The reflection now held four senbon in each hand. Sasuke put his arms around him, waiting for yet another rain of needles.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he heard Naruto yelled from his place outside the structure. "Quick! Shield him from the needles!" _'They won't make it.' _Sasuke thought, watching Haku's reflections starting to throw the needles. The clones flashed towards Sasuke in a blur of yellow and orange. Not even one needle hit the Uchiha this time. The Naruto replicas arrived just in time to receive the needles for him. The clones disappeared in a puff of smoke after being hit. The blond let out a sigh of relief, seeing that his friend was fine.

"I see you have improved your speed, Naruto-san." A group of Hakus complimented. The blond didn't reply, he instead focused on Sasuke that had a frown on his face.

"What is it?" he asked. The Uchiha didn't respond. "Sasuke wha-"

"Send your clones against the mirrors." The dark haired boy finally said, turning to him. Naruto looked at him confused. "Just do it."

"Fine." The blond summoned eight clones. _'What do you have in mind?' _he wondered as the clones threw themselves against the ice structures. Sasuke rapidly kicked a puddle of water near him and sent the water flying. Naruto raised an eyebrow. The Uchiha squinted his eyes and looked intently at the water, as his clones were being dispelled magically. Haku's movements being so fast that Naruto didn't even see him around his clones. _'Seems he's got something.' _The blond thought at the sight of Sasuke's face in realization.

"Again." He said vehemently. The blond nodded and repeated his actions. Just when his clones started to puff out of existence with no apparent cause, Sasuke performed a fire jutsu and launched it near a clone. Again his clones disappeared.

"What were you trying to do?" the blond asked. Sasuke had a smirk of satisfaction on his face.

"That." He pointed to Haku's clothes. On the lower part of his skirt was a burn mark. Haku looked stunned himself. _'Can he see through my movements? No that's impossible.' _He tried to convince himself. Then again, Zabuza-sama said he also had a blood limit.

'_I'm getting his timing.' _Sasuke thought. He was about to tell Naruto to send in more clones, but they were already leaping into the air. The Uchiha looked at the blond who nodded. _'Seems you understand.' _ Sasuke launched another fire ball when he caught Haku's movements towards a clone. The masked nin was forced to dodge the attack and return to a mirror to gain impulse.

'_The sharingan.' _Haku said, seeing a flash of red appear on the Uchiha's eyes. With the sharingan ability, the Uchiha kid can capture all my movements.He wasn't going to let that happen. He needed to finish him off. The clones were gone now. _'It was more clear this time.' _Sasuke thought. Maybe they had a chance to beat him. He felt a sharp pain on his legs but then was replaced with numbness. He fell to the floor.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. They hadn't seen that coming. Haku had not just attack the clones, but he also attacked Sasuke.

"What?" he asked. Sasuke tried to get to his feet but his legs didn't response.

"You're becoming a threat to my jutsu." Haku explained coldly. "I struck your femoral and sciatic nerves. You won't be able to move your legs for a while, but you won't last that long." He said with a bit of regret in his voice. Reflections appear in the mirrors again.

"Please die." And with that, needles were sent flying Sasuke's way from every corner of the ice dome.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* HiJutsu, Makyou HyouShou – Secret skill, demonic Ice mirrors

*Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hidden Mist technique

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Helloo. I'm trying to make them longer! XD jeje I'm in a good mood.**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 16

Sasuke shut his eyes and waited for the impending pain to come. He was supporting his weight upon his outstretched arms against the ground. He could hear the whistling of the needles as they flew through the air. The second before the needles made contact with him, he felt someone stumbling against him rather hard, sending him rolling from his spot. He opened his eyes, already knowing who the one who saved him from dying was. His eyes glanced quickly at the blond lying in the ground, blood dripping from his wounds. Sasuke let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding when he saw the blond's shoulders move.

"Baka!" He scolded, relieved that he wasn't dead (not that he was ever going to admit it), to the lying form of Naruto on the ground, body protruding with needles like Sasuke's. "I didn't ask you to save me." He said, angry partly at Naruto and partly at himself, for letting that happen.

"Tch." The blond responded, pushing his arms shakily, trying to get up. "You couldn't move, it wasn't anything you could do." He stood up, stumbling heavily.

"I hope your sharingan can help us out." Sasuke's eyes widened. _'My sharingan?' _he asked himself, not knowing what he was talking about. He hadn't activated his sharingan yet, much to Sasuke's frustrations, knowing that his brother had activated it at a much younger age. But his sight did look different. It seemed that every image he saw had enhanced, capturing every movement within his range of sight easily. Sasuke glanced at a puddle of water underneath him and he looked at his reflection. He suppressed a gasp.

His eyes were red as blood, with a comma-like mark imbedded in each eye. Sasuke's new eyes widened. _'The sharingan.' _He smiled with a new confidence. He turned to Haku's figure in the mirror. _'Those eyes.' _The long haired misin-nin thought, a tinge of fear raising in his gut. _'I need to kill him while he is unable to move.' _The mirrors flashed white, meaning Haku was on the move again.

"I can see him." Sasuke whispered to himself.

"Huh?" the blond asked. Sasuke's head shifted from one mirror to another, eyes glued to the almost invisible blur of Haku as he moved. _'He can read my movements.' _Haku thought as he transported in between his mirrors. He launched his rain of needles again. This time Sasuke could deflect most of them with his kunai but still some senbon reached his body. _'His eyes can keep up with me, but not his body.' _

"Naruto, I will tell you where he is so that you can land a hit alright?" Sasuke said, taking out a needle from his legs. The blond nodded. They were silent for a moment, waiting for Haku to leave one of his mirrors.

"Forty five degrees west!" Sasuke shouted suddenly, indicating the blond where he could catch up with Haku before he reached his next mirror. The blond leaped at breakneck speed where Sasuke was pointing. Haku sent eight needles towards him, trying to stop him, but the blond continued to advance, letting the needles hit him.

"Now!" Naruto heard the Uchiha's command and launched a punch to the air. His hand skimmed slightly against Haku's robe, but didn't land the hit.

"Tell me with more anticipation time!" he said as he landed on the ground.

"Your left, seventy five degrees." The blond launched again, this time he'll beat this guy up.

"Hit!" The blond reacted just in time to land a direct punch on what felt like Haku's mask. Now that Haku was stopped, he seemed to materialized in front of the blond.

"There you are!" the Kyuubi container roared as he launched another punch right on his cracked mask with all his strength. The long haired boy was sent flying backwards, colliding with one of his mirrors.

"Quick take him out of the dome!" the Uchiha said. Haku was stumbling on his feet slightly disorientated from the blond's blows. He was pretty sure he had a concussion. He saw his defeat in the form of Naruto coming at full speed towards him. _'I'm sorry Zabuza-sama.' _Naruto grabbed Haku by his clothes and launched him through one of the openings between two mirrors. The misin-nin hit the ground hard and rolled a few times on the concrete, his mask shattering completely. He stood up slowly and shakily, his strength seemed to be leaving his body.

The blond quickly leapt towards him. He wasn't going to allow Haku to make any movements. The demon container grabbed him by the collar of his clothes. He was slightly taken back by the appearance of the boy behind his mask. He just seemed too pacific and calm to be the one who tried to kill them. The blond just looked at him.

"I have lost against your skills." Haku said in a faint voice, blood flowing down his mouth. "Please kill me now." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Kill you?" The blond asked hesitantly, he had never thought of killing him. Naruto's plan had just reached the kicking his ass part. Haku nodded.

"You and your friend made me into a broken weapon." Haku said hollowly. "I no longer have a reason to exist." Naruto looked at him intently. How could a he consider himself as a weapon?

"You're a human being, not a weapon… not a tool." He said with a frown, remembering how Zabuza had called him. "You have free will. Stop following that eyebrow-less asshole and redirect your life, your dreams." Haku listened to him sullenly.

"I only posses one dream, and that is to help Zabuza-sama in anything I can, so that he can achieve his dreams, because he is a precious person to me. My happiness relies in his." The pale-faced boy responded. "I belong to Zabuza-sama, but I'm no longer useful to him." He reminded himself sadly. The blond clenched his fists.

"Damn it! Don't you see you're giving your life away for an evil person? He does not care what happens to you!" Naruto tried to reason with him. Haku may have wanted to kill him and Sasuke, but deep in his soul he didn't want to.

"Sometimes I like to think he cares…" The long haired boy said. "But even if he doesn't, I still owe him my existence. I'm happy when he uses me because I'm helping him one way or another." Naruto still didn't believe it, and Haku noticed.

"You care about your friends Naruto-san." He stated. "I saw when you threw yourself in my ice prison to save your comrade, because he is precious to you, and I sense that you'll give your life for any of your precious people. We are not different in that aspect. I care for Zabuza-sama. We fight for what we care." The blond's features softened as he listened to him.

"Your right." He responded after a moment. "We may fight for different persons but we do it because we can't let them get hurt." Haku smiled at him. "But I will not kill you, you hear me?" This made the once masked ninja sadden.

"Then you are putting your friends in danger again. You must kill me if you want to protect them."

"You are a threat, yeah, but if you attack them, I will just kick your icy ass over and over again. I have no need to kill you, so I won't." the blond stated firmly, releasing his grip on the ninja's clothes. Haku stared at the boy in front of him, realizing that Naruto didn't just care for his friends, but for everyone. _'That's nice.' _He thought. The mist around them started to disperse and that caught Haku's attention. He felt an uneasy feeling in his gut. _'Something's not right.' _

"You have a good heart Naruto-san, your wish to protect your dear ones will make you stronger." He said, as he started to make hand signs hurriedly. "I still have one more wish before I leave this world." The blond grabbed a kunai from his pouch rapidly, but Haku had used his phenomenal speed and disappeared, before the blond had his kunai halfway through his pouch.

"Haku!" Naruto called. He turned towards the ice dome, now that the mist had almost completely cleared, he saw Sasuke trying to stand but failing miserably. His legs still didn't respond.

"Stay there Sasuke!" he yelled as he turned himself into a blur towards the direction where a big amount of chakra could be felt.

"Wait I still can't walk!" Sasuke responded. "Naruto!" Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"Idiot." He said under his breath, taking off the needles around his legs. Maybe taking all of them off would help him regain his walking abilities faster.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loud screeching chirps like those of birds were heard as Naruto hurried towards the source of chakra. He had a bad feeling as he approached. Naruto distinguish five figures ahead of him. One of a big man next to a short long haired kid. _'That must be Sakura and Tazuna.' _The blond thought, relieved that they were all right. Sakura had noticed the blond and now was waving at him.

"Naruto!" she called, walking towards him. She detected the needles stuck in his body. "Are you alright? Is Sasuke alright? Where is him?!" the alarm of her tone increasing by the second.

"He's fine, has trouble to walk right, though. Go and help him out." The blond said, nodding towards the direction he had come. Sakura nodded eagerly and grabbed Tazuna's arm, taking him with her to check out the Uchiha. Naruto turned his head to the remaining three figures. One extending an arm against a shorter person that was right in front of someone with a big sword on his back. The ground surrounding them was demolished, with cracks in every corner. The concrete around Zabuza decorated with various holes, and there was a single ice mirror next to Zabuza. The blond approached rapidly.

"Oh no." Naruto whispered as he arrived at the scene, starting to visualize what had happened. Kakashi had launched an attack that was directed towards Zabuza, but then Haku… then Haku. _"I still have one more wish before I leave this world." _The blond paralyzed, glancing at the pouring blood coming from Haku's chest. _'Shit.' _The whiskered gritted his teeth. _'Haku you idiot.' _The blond thought saddened, at the sight of the immobile corpse gripping Kakashi's arm. The once masked boy had created an ice mirror to teleport in front of Zabuza to receive Kakashi's attack for was wearing a small smile in his pale face. The grey haired jounin was wearing a slash across his jounin-vest. The ice mirror had shattered. The blond listened to Kakashi exchanging some words with the sword wielder, his ears perking up at the words Zabuza spoke.

"To think the child I picked up would turn into such a wonderful weapon." He chuckled, taking the long hilt of his sword. "You served me well, Haku." He lifted his sword to land a blow on Kakashi while he was held still by Haku's firm grip. _'He's going to slash me along with the boy.' _The copy nin thought, trying to find a way to get away with the boy's body. He was about to leap into the air when Zabuza's attack stopped half way through. Naruto had launched at a speed Kakashi thought was impossible for a boy his age and landed a solid punch on Zabuza's face, making him stumble backwards but Naruto was still on him.

"YOU BASTARD!" the blond roared in wrath, while his fist was still in contact with the misin-nin cheek. _'When did he get this fast?' _Zabuza thought with his eyes wide as plates. He was still shocked by the orange clad genin's attack to stop the wave of blurring fists sent his way.

"How (punch) can you (punch) talk (punch) about him(punch) like that!?" the blond said while he hit Zabuza, ignoring his sensei's orders to back away. Zabuza reacted. On his sixth strike he grabbed Naruto's incoming fist and stopped it from making contact with his now bruised and now bloodied face. The demon of the mist threw the kid aside. Naruto back flipped in the air so that he was facing the short haired misin-nin, but Zabuza was already coming at him, sword extended at his side.

"Insect!" he spat, his ego ache that a genin had landed so many blows at him. Naruto saw Zabuza swung his blade at him, surprised at the speed it came. It couldn't be possible that such a large object could be maneuvered in such a swiftly way. The blade was centimeters from his torso when he touched the ground. Naruto quickly jumped backwards, trying to evade the edge of the sword.

He felt an intense burning growing downwards across his chest. The blade was so long that the blond couldn't dodge it completely. It seemed like an eternity as he felt how the sharp blade cut through his skin so easily. Naruto stepped back, holding his chest in pain, blood starting to drench his clothes surrounding the wound rapidly. Zabuza took off the bandages from his face and spat blood on the ground.

"You are good kid, I admit that." he said, showing his acute teeth at the wounded blond. "Unfortunately you're no match to a jounin like me." He chuckled as he gripped his sword with both hands preparing for a new attack, but he froze in place noticing a presence radiating a great killer intent right behind him.

"But I am." Kakashi whispered darkly behind his back. Zabuza's eyes widened, fear rising within him. He was about to leapt out of his reach but the copy cat nin had quickly imbedded deeply two kunai in each of his arms before the mist nin could react. Zabuza grunted in pain, as blood started to pour from his stabs. He dropped his sword, finding it impossible to continue holding it when his hands didn't respond.

"You attempted to kill us and hurt my student." Kakashi stated as he straightened up and wiped some splattered blood from his face, not knowing if it was from Haku or Zabuza. The eyebrow-less ninja stared at his sword, not responding.

"This time I will kill you for sure." The sharingan user said, taking another kunai from his pouch.

"Let me do that for you." A voice said from the undone extreme of the bridge. Zabuza turned his face, recognizing the voice. "I had to stand him a week longer than I needed him because the mighty demon of the mist assured me he will kill Tazuna and his ninja escort this time." The man dressed in a black suit with a cane in his right hand mocked. Choruses of chuckles were heard behind him.

"What do you mean?" Zabuza asked narrowing his eyes.

"You were supposed to die after you killed Tazuna." Gato replied with a grin, fixing his glasses. "The money you were expecting me to pay was too much for an exiled ninja like you to ask. So I decided it was a lot easier to kill you, and my subordinates finish your work." He nodded to the thugs behind him.

"I see." Zabuza responded monotonously. Gato's gaze shifted from the mist demon to Haku's corpse lying on the ground.

"Oh look at that." He said walking towards the dead boy. He placed his cane on Haku's cheek, shaking his face. "It's a shame. I wanted to be present in his death." He smashed his cane against the boy's face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" the blond snapped again, but this time Kakashi restrained him by his jacket's collar before he could move. Gato shifted slightly at the boy's killer intent sent his way. He chuckled and ignored him trying to cover his fear, but returned with his group of murderers for safety.

"Kakashi." Zabuza called. The grey haired man turned to him. "As you see, I have no obligation to kill the bridge builder now. It would be senseless if we continued our fight." The Hatake nodded curtly.

"I still have a few reasons to kick his ass." The blond hissed. Kakashi gripped his clothes more tightly, avoiding any chance that he could escape and do something reckless. He was going to lecture him but Zabuza interrupted.

"Kid, he's already dead." Naruto's glare became even darker at the lack of emotion in his voice.

"You sound like you never cared for him." The blond spat.

"Ninjas are not supposed to care. We are just emotionless tools." Zabuza responded, his gaze shifted from the raging blond towards Haku. "Haku wasn't a perfect ninja because he cared too much." Naruto though he saw a tinge of sadness in his expression.

"That's why he wore a mask. He tried to hide his emotions." The short haired nin approached slowly to his now dead partner. "He was too soft." He whispered to himself as he looked at Haku's bruised face longingly.

"What does that matter? We are humans, too. We are allowed to feel, we are supposed to have dreams." The blond retorted, shaking off Kakashi's hand from his jacket, but stood still. "I don't know how he called 'being useful to you' a dream, but he did." Zabuza flinched noticeably, to Kakashi's surprise. The blond kept talking

"And I'm sure you were aware of that. He gave his life away for you!" his voice gaining volume. "You could at least appreciate that!" the blond finished and stared at Zabuza, ready to attack him again if he dared to laugh at his words. But tears started to roll down the misin nin cheeks freely. The blond's features softened. _'He did care after all.' _

"I know you're right." He said softly, his eyes glued to Haku. "I never showed Haku how much I valued his actions." He lamented as he closed his eyes. Gato stood in front of his small army with a big smirk on his face, as if the sorrow of others entertained him. The blond was convinced about Zabuza's words and switched to a different concern.

"Sensei, what are we going to do with Gato?" he turned to Kakashi, wearing a wound that resembled his. The grey haired nin turned to his former enemy, knowing he loved vengeance.

"It'd be my pleasure to kill him." Zabuza responded, his crying stopped at fast as it has come. Kakashi nodded, and send a flying kunai his way. The mist nin caught it with his mouth and charged rapidly towards the crowed that backed Gato up. Naruto had stepped forward, eager to help Zabuza against the tyrant. Yet again he was restrained by his sensei.

"We are in no condition to continue fighting." He said, pointing at the angry slash the blond exhibited across his chest. Blood had stopped flowing. The leaf genin was going to object that he could continue, Kakashi, foretelling this, added.

"We're just here to protect Tazuna, not to get involve against an army." Naruto clenched his fist and turned his head towards the revolving mass. He watched amazed at Zabuza getting stabbed by numerous weapons, five of them remained stuck to his body but he kept advancing towards then one who had betrayed him. The exiled mist ninja slashed everyone that stepped between him and the fleeing Gato. _'You must be happy Haku.' _Naruto thought with a small smile. _'He even cried for you.' _

Four, five, six slashes through Gato's body, but the demon of the mist didn't seem to slow down. _'Haku I know that you didn't want me to die.' _He twirled around to land another stab on Gato's back. _'But I can't bear living without you by my side.' _With his full strength he launched one last time at the bloodied manipulating man. This time the knife remained with Gato, sticking out of his heart.

"I'll see you in hell!" The demon of the mist yelled as he landed a kick on the terrified little man's stomach and sending him flying out of the bridge and onto the sea. Now that he was dead, the adrenaline from his body began to falter. Zabuza turned and walked slowly towards Haku's direction. The thugs backed away from him in fear and letting him pass through. They wondered how he could continue moving after so many cuts and stabbings. Finally, Zabuza's body had reached his limit and fell to the ground with an empty thud. Naruto and Kakashi watched solemnly as he fell, acknowledging his last efforts to reach Haku.

"What's with those guys over there?" Sakura asked. She had Sasuke's arm over her shoulders and was carrying him by herself. When Tazuna had offered to help her she declined heatedly. Of course she wouldn't lose that kind of opportunity. The Uchiha felt awkward in his position, but didn't refuse her help, wanting to go towards Naruto and see what had happened with Haku.

"What the hell happened to you!?" The pink haired girl asked, startled by the blond's wound. Naruto shrugged.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's all over now." He said, turning again to Zabuza's still body. His comrades stared in silence, trying to comprehend what had happened.

"-Shit Gato's dead." One of the thugs said.

"-What are we supposed to do now?"

"-I don't know but I'm not leaving here with empty hands."

"-I say let's take all the valuables from this village."

"-Agreed!" a chorus backed up. The mini army turned menacingly towards the ninja.

"Gato's men I suppose." Sasuke said. Kakashi and the blond nodded. They straighten up. Sakura looked slightly frightened at the men coming their way. She turned to her sensei questioningly.

"I guess these counts as protecting Tazuna. Neh, Kakashi-sensei?" The grey haired ninja looked at his student and wondered where all his energy came from, he felt terribly exhausted. He sighed.

"I guess it does, but my energy is depleted." He glanced backwards at the new incoming crowd. "But they might help." Team seven looked at the armed citizens that came from the opposite extreme of the bridge, Inari, Tsunami and team eight were in front of the villagers. Tazuna looked mystified.

"We won't let you take another step!" A small kid yelled, firing a bolt from his crossbow towards the army. Gato's men halted in their advance, wondering if they should continue. Naruto looked surprised by the act of courage from Inari's part and wanted to know where it had come from, but first they needed to finish the thugs.

"All right, If you want to fight," the blond began to say, placing his middle and index finger from both hands in a cross shape. "You'll have to pass through us first!" A chorus of Narutos shouted. Hundreds of orange genins took a step forward, intimidating the criminals. Kakashi was perplexed by the amount of energy the blond still possessed. He turned to the already fleeing criminals, running for their lives. They jumped rapidly on the ship they had come, some of them even threw themselves over the sea. Cheers erupted from the villagers throats, shouting joyfully that Gato's kingdom of terror was finished. Naruto dispelled his clones. He was kind of disappointed he couldn't get to fight some more, but Kakashi carrying Zabuza's body, now free of the bunch of weapons stuck in his back, caught his attention. The grey haired ninja left the demon of the mist besides Haku's body, it seemed that he wasn't dead yet.

"_Ninjas are not supposed to care. We are just emotionless tools." _He remembered the words of Zabuza. _'We may serve as weapons, but we are so much more.' _The blond thought at the exiled mist ninja extending his hand and patting Haku's head before he exhaled his last breathe. _'I will create my own ninja way, where emotions are permitted.' _He thought confidently with a smile. Team eight and Tazuna's family had approached them. Tsunami hugged his father affectively. Tazuna returned her hug and patted Inari's head with a big smile.

"Weren't you suppose to be a coward?" the blond asked with a playful smile, towards the armed kid.

"I'm not anymore." He responded with a big grin. "Hinata nee-chan said it was ok to feel fear but that shouldn't stop me from protecting the ones I love."

"Hinata?" he asked confused as he watched her approach behind her sensei.

"Yeah, she talked with me after she took down two samurais with just touching them just once." He praised, remembering the event. Naruto smiled at the kid, glad that he wasn't such a crybaby now.

"I told you we should have come after beating down those guys." Kiba complained to his puppy, who barked in agreement. "You look like you got your asses kick." he said with a smirk to team seven.

"But they succeeded." Shino defended in his monotonous tone. The dog ninja scowled.

"Yeah, well, your jounin did all the work." Kiba said folding his arms.

"You don't know that." the bug user counteracted logically. Sakura and Sasuke were looking strangely at Shino, as if not knowing he could talk.

"You know what, shut up!" The Inuzuka said, not finding something better to say. Shino looked at him for a moment.

"You're right, it is senseless to continue this argument." He said, finalizing the conversation.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called, worry noticeably in her voice. She passed an annoyed Kiba quickly towards the orange clad ninja. Naruto turned towards the soft calling voice.

"Y-you are wounded." She noted alarmed, her lavender eyes resting in his chest and the little tinges of blood from the needles on his body. Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, this one really hurts." he said with a smile. "So, I heard you took down two samurais?" Hinata was a bit taken back by the sudden change of the subject.

"W-well, uhm, yeah… It w-wasn't that impressive..." The girl started fidgeting with her fingers, but she remembered his slashed chest. "Y-you need to t-treat your wound."

"Your right. Hinata take Naruto back to Tazuna-san's house and take care of his injuries." Kurenai said, standing next to them. She turned to Kiba.

"You too Kiba. Help Sakura take Sasuke to the house." Kurenai ordered.

"What!? But I just got here." He whined. His sensei sighed at his students behaviour. Kurenai glanced at Naruto and Hinata and then to Kiba, sensing that those three together didn't make a peaceful combination, she reconsidered her decision.

"Fine, you can stay to guard Tazuna and his family with us." She said, looking at the old bridge builder talking eagerly with the villagers.

"All right, thanks." Kiba responded happily, turning to watch the dead bodies.

"Shino, you help Sasuke and Sakura." the Aburame nodded curtly and did as he was told. An amused Naruto watched Sasuke being carried away with an annoyed look.

"Get going." The red eyed jounin said to Naruto and Hinata.

"Wait, Zabuza and Haku still need to be buried." The blond objected turning to his sensei.

"The villagers will take care of that." Kakashi said, his headband covering his left eye again. "Right now we need to get treated." Naruto didn't look too happy.

"Don't worry Naruto, we'll pay them a visit before we return to Konoha." He assured, smiling under his mask. The blond gazed at the ninja's bodies and nodded.

"Fine." He said finally. "C'mon Hinata." He turned to the waiting girl and they started walking. After a moment of walking in silence, something occurred with the blond.

"Uhm Hinata." He called almost shyly. The girl faced him, her cheeks slightly colored. "I'm kind of starving, once we get to the house… Could you prepare me something to eat?" he asked hopefully.

"S-Sure, Naruto-kun. I s-saw enough ingredients in the k-kitchen to make s-some ramen." She responded with a smile, happy she could grant the blond his wish. Naruto's face seemed to lit up with his foxy smile. Then he did what Hinata wouldn't think he would do again. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and brought her against him. Hinata let out a soft 'eep'.

"You're the best, you know that?" he said happily. Her face lit up at the closeness of their bodies. _'Don't faint!' _she told herself desperatly, but her cheek brushing against his caused her to start feeling light headed.

"Hinata?" The whiskered kid called, but she didn't respond. He let go of her to see what had happened, but had to catch her again before she hit the floor.

"Hinata!" he said shaking slightly the girl that had fainted under his hug.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 17

After Hinata had regain consciousness, they got to Tazuna's house, finding Sakura already treating her crush. Naruto wanted to eat desperately, but Hinata said that if he didn't let her take care of the deep cut, she wouldn't prepare him his ramen. She could be mean sometimes. So he took off his ripped and bloodied jacket and black shirt so Hinata could start treating his wounds. Knowing Naruto needed to be attended, the Hyuuga girl tried her best to keep her blushing at the minimum.

"Couldn't you just put some of your medicine in it?" the blond asked from his place on the couch as Hinata gently cleaned his wound with a wet cloth. She shook her head.

"I-It is just for s-small injuries." She replied, sinking the red stained cloth in a recipient with water next to a pile of bloodied needles. The girl squeezed out the excess of water. "Yours need a c-complete t-treatment." Naruto watched as Hinata continue to run the cloth carefully through his chest. Cleaning and disinfecting one of his wound wasn't necessary. It was the biggest and deepest he got so far but he knew the fox's chakra would heal it faster than normal. But he couldn't tell them that. He groaned.

"Is he giving you any problems Hinata?" Sakura said from the dining table. She was taking care of Sasuke, of course.

"N-No Sakura-chan." The small girl hurried to say.

"Can't you stay out of people's business even when you're with Sasuke?" the blond asked in an annoyed tone.

"What did you say?" her green eyes turning to him dangerously.

"You heard me." The blond retorted with a smirk, enjoying Sakura's reaction. Sakura was about to say something but Sasuke interrupted.

"Sakura, you can rip open Naruto's wound if you want, but do it after you are finished with me." The Uchiha said annoyed. He really needed some sleep.

"S-Sorry Sasuke-kun." She apologized and continued to take off his needles, completely forgetting her verbal fight with the blond. Naruto smirked and decided to torment her some other time.

"I-I've finished." Hinata informed softly, putting aside the cloth. The blond had almost forgotten she was treating him. Maybe it was because she was so gentle with her movements Naruto could barely feel her hand moving around his angry cut. He smiled and whooped.

"Yeah! Now it's time for some ramen." He made an attempt to stand up but the dark haired girl's hand on his shoulder pushed him back onto the couch. He looked at her questioningly.

"I've finished _cleaning_." She clarified. "N-Now I'll bandage it, and y-you'll be done." The Hyuuga giggled at the blond's scowling face. Naruto could act childish at times. She took a thick roller bandage from her pouch.

"S-Stand up and r-raise you arms, please." She said. The blond did as instructed and raised his arms at the height of his shoulders. The Hyuuga heir leaned forward and started wrapping the cloth around his torso, trying to ignore the fact that she was actually very close to hug him, as she passed the cloth from her left hand to her right hand, behind his back. She scolded herself mentally at her thoughts and continue enveloping the blond on bandages. Naruto's noise tingled slightly at the pleasant smell that it perceived. He leaned a bit and noticed the scent increased as he approached Hinata. A mixture of fresh flowers, vanilla and… something else impossible for him to classify.

"There, now I'm finished." She said, putting a strand of adhesive tape on the end of the bandage so it would hold still. The black haired girl straightened up, finding a pair of big cerulean eyes looking at her, dangerously close. She felt a warm feeling rising up to her cheeks and her heart pounding faster.

"I-Is something w-wrong?" she managed to muster, not being able to stop looking at his eyes. Naruto continued to stare at her for a minute, then blinked.

"Huh? Uhm, no." He straightened himself also, waking up from his daze and making the gap between their faces more spacious. "Just though you smelled good." He responded flatly. Hinata's face started to glow a bright red.

"U-Uhm, I-I'll make y-your ramen now." She spun quickly on her heels and hurried to the kitchen. _'He thinks I smell good.' _A small smile crept to her blushing face. Naruto stared at her retreating back. He heard Sakura and, surprisingly, Sasuke snicker.

"What?" he asked, turning his head towards them.

"You can lower your arms now, you know?" Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at his sides, noticing he still had his arms raised. He lowered them quickly, blushing slightly, although he didn't know the reason of his embarrassment. They snickered once more. The whiskered blond open his mouth to say something that would stop them from mocking him, but not fully understanding the situation, didn't find anything to say. Instead, he took his ripped clothes and climb up the stairs, getting away from his mocking companions. On his way upstairs he passed Shino who also seemed to be staring at him. _'Is he also making fun of me?' _he wondered, but bug user's demeanor didn't hint if he was or not. _'Whatever.' _ Naruto shrugged his shoulders and continued his way to his room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata threw in some ginger onto the boiling pot of water with cooking noodles in it, along with more condiments. It was dark already and she thought she could make dinner for everyone. The girl used the biggest pot she could find so there was enough ramen for everyone. She hoped Tsunami-san didn't mind. She was sure everyone was tired and hungry after all the events that had occurred today, especially team seven.

Hinata loved to cook. When she was younger she would enter the big kitchen in the Hyuuga manor when permitted and watch how the branch members prepared the food. She was eight years old when she had offered to help, numerous pairs of pupil-less eyes looked at her horrified. The branch members claimed that a member from the main branch shouldn't lower herself by getting involved with the servitude's labors.

The little girl casted her eyes down in disappointment and turned to leave, but was stopped by an octogenarian woman. Hinata knew her well. The older woman had served Hinata's mother when she was young and accompany her through her whole life until the end. She was very kind towards Hinata. The graceful woman was the only person in the Hyuugas' branch family that didn't treat her with fear and actually the only one in all the Hyuuga's that smiled at her. After Hinata's mother's death giving birth to Hanabi, the woman had stayed with her and helped her with anything she could. She was the one that taught her to cook different varieties of dishes. Being respected among the lower family, the branch members working in the kitchen didn't contradict her words and permitted the small heir do whatever she wanted in the spacious kitchen. The older lady had died two years after that from natural causes, leaving Hinata lacking of someone she could be comfortable with in her family.

Hinata smiled sadly at her memory. It was the old woman's dying wish that she didn't feel sad about her death. It was hard for the raven haired girl but she had managed to stop the tears forming every time she cooked something she had taught her.

"Do you need any help?" Hinata was kicked out of her immersion at Sakura's voice.

"I was just about to finish, Sakura-chan." She responded as she put the onions she was cutting on the appetizing-looking mixture. "It'll be ready soon." Sakura approached the stove.

"Don't you think you did way too much?" she asked, glancing over at the big recipient. "Even for Naruto?" Hinata shook her head.

"I-It's for everyone." She hurried to say, a tinge of pink in her cheeks at the mention of the blond. "I thought of making dinner so they could eat once they got here." The pink haired girl's lips formed an 'o' in an understandingly gesture.

"I-I hope you all like ramen." She added in a dubitative voice, it hadn't occurred to her earlier if everyone liked Naruto's favorite food.

"You worry too much." She said with a smile. But her expression changed immediately when she saw a certain blond coming through the kitchen's entrance.

"Kami, It smells so good." The blond said as he inhaled deeply the scent that floated all over the kitchen. He was in a clean white shirt and his usual orange pants.

"Oh really? Does it smell as good at Hinata?" Sakura asked with a mischievous smile. Said girl flushed rapidly and immediately bowed her head, avoiding any eye contact with the blond.

"Uhm I… " the blond scratched his jaw, as if he was really considering that question. "I can't really tell." He finally said. Hinata didn't know if she had to feel flattered that the blond think that she smelled as good as his favorite dish.

"But she certainly smells sweeter." He stated seriously. Sakura sighed at the blond not flushing or acting awkwardly like before.

"Wow! Is that all for me?" Naruto bursted, seeing the container filled with broth up to the top.

"Baka. It's for everyone, Kakashi-sensei and the others won't take much longer, so you're just going to have one portion." The pink haired girl said, as if on cue, they heard the front door opening and Kiba announcing he had arrived, followed by a happy bark. Naruto pouted.

"Fine." He said, deciding that one was better than nothing.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted. He had his jounin vest off, and under his ripped shirt you could see a bandage.

"What took you so long?" the blond asked, taking the closest seat near the kitchen entrance.

"It was really boring." Kiba cut in, slumping on the couch. "All Tazuna did was talk with the villagers, shaking hands, talking about the bridge and stuff."

"All the former workers are coming back to finish the bridge once and for all." The old man said with a big grin. "There were even more volunteers now that Gato is gone. The bridge could be finish in four days or less!" he exclaimed dreamily, he passed an arm around his daughter's shoulders and put a hand on Inari's head, they both had pleasant smiles all over their faces.

"Do I get to continue working?" the blond asked. He really wanted to see that bridge finished.

"Of course not!" Kurenai and Sakura said at the same time. "You are wounded Naruto, don't you remember?" The leader of team eight said.

"But look." He stood up and started making star jumps. "I can't even feel anything." He lied. It had passed approximately five hours, and of course the fox's healing abilities were working on his cut, he still felt sharp stings of pain when he moved but he tried to ignore them. He was sure that for tomorrow his injury would be better. Sakura grunted in annoyance. She advanced towards him. The blond stopped moving and cocked an eyebrow towards her. The pink haired girl extended her arm and flicked her index finger against his chest, where the injury was supposed to be. Immediately the spot she hit felt like it was burning and the pain spread all through the wound. Naruto hissed in pain and clutched his hand on his wound. Kakashi grimaced subconsciously, imaging how that would have felt if done to him.

"That wasn't really necessary you damn savage." The blond cursed, looking underneath his shirt to see if she had opened his wound.

"Of course it was." She said in a sing-song voice. "That way you know you're in no condition to perform any arduous activities." He emitted a low growl and glared darkly at his teammate.

"You know she's right Naruto. I don't know how much time it will take for _you_ to heal." Kakashi said, trying to make the blond see his point. "But it won't be anytime soon." Kurenai turned to the grey haired jounin with a confused look but then remembered the boy's condition and nodded in agreement. Not too far away Shino was raising an eyebrow at the election of words of the Hatake and his sensei's reaction.

"Sorry Kid." Tazuna said sincerely. The whiskered boy had been his salvation, after the first day he helped in the construction the bridge builder had offered him the scarce salary he had paid the former workers. He was surprised when the blond shook his head and said he just wanted to help. "_It is also a nice training"._ He had added with a grin. Tazuna had clearly noticed that his clones were much faster and stronger than any of the workers. The old man watched as the blond closed his eyes and sighed in defeat. He was touched that although being injured, he wanted to continue. _'A simple thanks wouldn't be enough.' _

"Is the ramen ready?" Naruto asked, turning to Hinata.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Being Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto injured after their battle against the two mist ninjas, although the blond didn't accepted it, Kiba's wish of team eight switching with team seven's duties became real. Now Kurenai's team would take care of Tazuna while he and the workers finished the bridge and Kakashi's team would stay in the bridge builder's house. Naruto was surprised that the day after Haku's and Zabuza's death, his wound still wasn't healed. It was a lot better than before, the width between the edges of the redden skin had decreased considerably, but it still needed some time to fully close itself, Tsunami had said when she changed the whiskered boy's bandages. When he woke up on day two after Gato's downfall, the blond prayed that the wound had healed, but to his misfortune, it still didn't look well. He couldn't take being inside the house with practically nothing to do. Sasuke and Kakashi were too tired and only got up from their improvised beds to eat, and Sakura and Tsunami had prohibited him to go training, fearing that he could reopen the cut.

Naruto tried to get his mind away from training by involving in anything he was allowed to do in the house. He swept the floor and the porch, washed dishes and helped Tsunami cooking, learning how to cook a good Gyudon (beef and onion served over a bowl of rice). He even sat down and talked with Inari, whose attitude had changed impressively. _'Wonder what had Hinata told him.' _He thought inwardly, as he listened to him saying that he wanted to protect his loved ones.

The only thing the blond could do, without getting yelled by his pink haired teammate, was meditate. He sat in the rooftop for hours, cross legged, eyes closed and immersed in his blaring music. At least he would enhance his senses more, so in the future no one would sneak on him. The blond recalled Zabuza's amazing stealth skills and was determined to surpass his concealment skills one day. _'I need to stop wearing orange.' _The blond deduced. No self respected ninja would walk around with such flamboyant attire.

His orange jacket and pants were the best he could afford at the time. In his wondering for a clothes store that wouldn't kick him out, he entered one where the owner's son had welcomed him like he was any other child in look for clothes, the blond smiled happily and quickly bought the cheap orange attire. When he had returned again to buy something else, he encountered the boy's father and, like any other adult in the village, prohibited his entrance to the shop and ordered his son not to let Naruto approach again.

Naruto shook his bitter experiences with the villagers away and stood up, putting an end to his meditation. He'll ask someone about a clothing store that could receive him when he returned to the village, which would be tomorrow afternoon. Tazuna had arrived earlier and announced jubilantly that the bridge was finally finished. Team seven and eight would leave tomorrow morning, their senseis had said, so they needed to start packing. He would visit Zabuza's and Haku's graves early tomorrow morning before they departed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All the villagers of the island had come early out of their beds to say goodbye to the Konoha ninjas that had come to their help. They were all gathered at the entrance of the newly made bridge, cheering at their young heroes' retreating backs. Tsunami had tears of gratefulness rolling down her cheeks when she had said good bye to the shinobi. Inari had come forth and hug the Hyuuga while he, like his mom, cried from their departure. Naruto had been offered many gifts from most of the villagers who had seen him work on the bridge, from food to personal belongings. The blond had thanked them but said he couldn't accept them, the villagers continued to insist heatedly and the whiskered boy had to add that he couldn't carry all the gifts. It took a while to convince all the villagers but they had finally retreated their offerings and let the ninjas go.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm hungry." Naruto said as his stomach growled for the nth time.

"You should have been in the house during breakfast, Naruto." Sakura nagged, turning her head to look at him. The blond had wake up earlier to go to the place where the villagers had buried Zabuza and Haku to say his goodbye. He was surprised to find Kakashi already there. The grey haired ninja had smiled at him and go back to the house. When the blond had come back, they all had finished their breakfast long ago and were ready to go.

"First time I see you wake up early and you miss breakfast." Kiba snickered a little ahead of him, his puppy wrapped inside his jacket. "Idiot." Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.

"A good shinobi should endure long periods of time without alimentation." Shino said quietly without turning his head. The blond sighed heavily, now even Shino was mocking him. Hinata was walking behind the blond and glanced at him, wishing she had some food on her she could give him. Naruto turned his head and caught her gaze, making the young heir 'eep' and lower her sight.

"You also enjoy watching me suffer?" he asked playfully, falling in step with her. Hinata's head shot up.

"O-Off course n-not." she said horrified. Naruto chuckled at her response.

"Just kidding." He said with a smile. Hinata's shoulders relaxed notoriously. Naruto's eyes diverted from her blushy face towards the top of a tree.

"Oh look at that." The blond stopped and walked closer to the tree that had spots of read hanging from its branches. "Do you want an apple Hinata?" he asked, looking for the easiest of the various fruits to get.

"Y-you don't h-have to, Naruto-kun." She said, also halting. But the blond ignored her refusal. He had already a kunai in his hand and threw it straight up, detaching two apples that were lined from the branch. They fell freely and the blond caught them with his hands.

"Here." He said, offering the red fruit to the girl. She could only accept it and mutter her thanks. The blond smiled and took a bit from the juicy fruit.

"You're welcome." He replied. The whistle of the kunai falling rapidly caught her ear. She was about to advert the blond of the danger but the blond stretched his hand out and took the kunai from its hilt effortlessly.

"Don't take out your weapons unless facing danger!" Kurenai reprimanded from ahead. The whole group had stopped and turned to see the couple behind.

"Kay." The blue eyed genin replied as he put away his kunai and resumed walking, followed by Hinata. Naruto noticed Kiba glowering at him but decided to ignore him and continue eating his apple.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I see." The Sandaime said after he heard the briefing of the mission. Team seven and team eight were standing before him, jounins and genins with straightened backs at the presence of the aged village leader, well all besides Naruto that had his hands shoved in his pockets and was gazing at the city through the windows disinterestedly.

"Encountering shinobi degree of Momochi Zabuza and his companion certainly raises the mission's rank, perhaps to an A-rank." Sarutobi informed, looking carefully at Kakashi's ripped vest. "You're students are very lucky to had survived, Kakashi." The copy cat nin smiled under his mask.

"They were very skilled, Hokage-sama." Sakura blushed at her sensei defending them, while Sasuke suppressed the urge to smirk. The Hokage nodded.

"I see you all did a good job." He extended his arms, regarding the six genins and a dog. "You already know where to claim your paychecks I presume." The genins nodded. "Great. You're dismissed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wave Country might be a poor nation, but the money each genin and jounin got paid from the C-rank mission easily doubled that of the previous D-ranks. During his time as a genin, doing two D-ranks and sometimes three per day made wonders to Naruto's toad-like wallet, without counting the money the Hokage sent each month. When gama-chan (The blond's baptize name for his wallet) grew full, he would go to Konoha's bank and deposit one third of his money, as recommended by Iruka-sensei, who was the person in charge of helping Naruto open an account three years ago.

"How about we take lunch together before going home? My treat." Kurenai asked her team, knowing what their answer would be being it a tradition team eight had after unusually long missions. She smiled at her students nodding in agreement. "Let's go to Teishoku then."

"Hey sensei, you should take Kurenai-sensei's example and treat us to lunch too." Naruto said with crossed arms.

"Yeah." Sakura said. The grey haired ninja looked at his students and sighed.

"Sure why not." Kakashi said as he collected his paycheck as well as two bounty checks with many zeros written in it. _'They do deserve it after all.' _He thought.

"Where to?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"Why Ichiraku, off course." He responded.

"Don't you eat anything else apart from ramen?" The raven haired Uchiha asked boringly.

"Ah C'mon, you can't say you don't like it?" the blond said with a smirk. Sasuke looked away and 'hmp'ed, remembering the first time they ate at Ichiraku he ended up asking for two more bowls.

"Fine." He said after a moment. Sakura smiled, already planning to seat next to the dark eyed boy. Both teams turned to leave, but Kurenai was stopped by someone tugging on her sleeve.

"Why don't we… uhm, eat with t-them?" she said in a low voice. Her teacher sent her a questioning look. Hinata started playing with her fingers when she felt Naruto's eyes on her, joined by his teammates.

"I-I m-mean, we j-just completed a m-mission t-together a-and… uhm" Kami feeling everyone's eyes on her made her feel really nervous. Kurenai smiled understandingly.

"Sure we can, if it's okay with team seven." She said, turning her head to Kakashi. His eye wrinkled, proving he was smiling under his dark mask.

"Let's go then, I'm starving!" the blond called over his shoulder, already walking towards the familiar ramen restaurant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"If it wasn't for me, we would be assisting to your funeral right now." The whiskered boy managed through a mouthful of noodles.

"You're being delirious, dobe." Sasuke said, his eyes locked in his second bowl of steaming ramen in front of him.

"Ah yeah? Who was the one who saved you from becoming a human porcupine? And the one who kicked Haku's ass?" The blond asked, swallowing his food. Seeing that the Uchiha wasn't responding he smirked. "That's right, it was me."

"Well, if it wasn't for my sharingan, you wouldn't have been able to land a hit on the bastard." He countered.

"You activated your sharingan?" Kiba asked from his place besides Hinata, who was taking glances at the Kyuubi container from the corner of her eye. Kakashi looked at the young Uchiha slightly surprised. _'Now he's got more potential.' _

"Congratulations Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered next to him. The onyx eyed boy smiled satisfactorily.

"Great! You got your swirly-eye thingy, too bad you couldn't even move your legs to do anything." Naruto said. Sasuke glared at the blond and Naruto returned the gesture.

"For what it seemed, both of you did a great teamwork." Kurenai commented, trying to put an end on the pre-teens argument. She put aside her empty bowl of vegetables ramen. She was confused when Naruto and Sasuke just 'hmp'ed and return to their meals. The blond finished the remnants of his broth and put his bowl aside, next to the other six.

"Oi, old man!" he waved to Teuchi, who turned the Kyuubi container with a smile.

"Another bowl, I assume." He said, walking over to the counter.

"You know me." The whiskered kid responded with a grin. "Make it pork this time." The genins and jounins looked at him with a mixture of concern and impression.

"What?" he asked, feeling the stares of seven pair of eyes on him.

"Don't you ever get full?" the Inuzuka asked.

"In about a bowl more or two, maybe." The blond responded, he furrowed his eyebrows and his foot starting to twitch in annoyance, counting the seconds that his ramen took to be ready. His attention switched from the kitchen towards a spot in between Kiba and Sakura, at the sound Hinata, giggling softly at his antics. _'I almost forgot she was here.' _He caught her eyes and smiled which immediately led her to stop her laughing and diverted her eyes to her sandals under the counter, with a slight flush on her cheeks. _'Damn, what did I do now?' _he wondered but his thoughts were interrupted by a strong smell of pork in front of him.

"There you go Naruto." Ayame said with a smile as she collected his and the others empty bowls.

"Thanks." He said, launching at his food and wolfing it down. After a minute the container was placed down with nothing inside.

"Whew." The blond said, wiping the excess of broth on his mouth with his forearm. "Thanks for the food Kakashi-sensei."

"No problem." He said unenthusiastically. The masked jounin received the bill that was handed to him by the owner of the restaurant. His visible eyebrow rose for a second at the cost of his students' meal. He sighed, taking out his wallet.

"You can go home now." Kurenai said, also paying for her pupils' food, but hers not being as costly as her fellow Konoha shinobi. "Also, you'll get tomorrow as your day off." She smiled as Kiba whooped and ruffled his dog's head.

"That goes for you too." The Hatake said, standing up from his stool and taking out his small book. "I'll be leaving now." He started walking down the crowded street calmly. Naruto stood up quickly from his seat and ran towards his retreating sensei, waving good bye to his comrades and Ichiraku's crew.

"Hey sensei." He called, catching up with Kakashi. "Can I ask you a question?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stopped in front of the show window displaying a few mannequins wearing the traditional ninja clothing; dark blue pants and long sleeved shirt with a round shaped red swirl on both upper sides of the upper part of the sleeves and the green vest above it all.

"_I know a tailor named Satoshi who works at Konoha's ninja clothing store. Just ask for him and he'll attend you, tell him I sent you. "_ Kakashi had said when the whiskered boy asked him of a clothing store where they would let him in. The blond walked through the store's door, making the small bell hanging above it chime, announcing the arrival of costumers. The smile a man in his mid thirties on the counter had prepared for the new client faded almost instantly. His face contorted in a grimace of disgust.

"What the hell do you want?" he spat. Naruto frowned and started looking around the store.

"I'm looking for Satoshi." He said firmly.

"He's busy, I suggest you to get ou-"

"Did someone say my name?" an old looking man said, coming out from the storage room behind the counter.

"Yeah, me." Naruto said.

"Oh, what is it that you want?" he asked. The younger man was about to said something but the blond spoke first.

"My sensei, Kakashi, said that yo-" Satoshi's grey eyes widened at the name and approached the blond rapidly.

"Kakashi? Hatake Kakashi?" He interjected. The boy nodded. "My name is Iwate Satoshi, nice to meet you…"

"Naruto." The blond said. Satoshi nodded and shook his hand.

"Naruto! Come." He said, ushering the blond to the other end of the store, through a bunch of clothes racks and stands. "Great man, Kakashi-san! He saved me from a bunch of bloodthirsty missing-nins on my way to Konoha from my home, you know?" The Kyuubi container listened quietly as the old man praised his perverted sensei some more and recalled the beauty of his former land with its green grass and abundant flora. When Satoshi finished dwelling on his memories, his attention turned on the young ninja.

"So, you came here to look at some clothes didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I kinda need a new gear, something not too flashy." The older man nodded.

"Off course. Ninjas are supposed to be masters of concealment and must be able slip through their enemies without being noticed. Good attires help shinobi to be as imperceptible as possible. So tell me, what did you have in mind?" He asked.

"Dunno," he shrugged. "Something that doesn't make the bad guys spot me in an instant." Satoshi stroked his short beard in thought. Then his eyes lightened and turned to a large wooded closet.

"How 'bout this?" he showed the blond a dark green cargo pants that seemed to be heavy because of the thickness of its material. It had several pockets on it.

"These trousers are great if you're traveling among trees and vegetation." He handed the pants to the blond who started to examine them. Naruto nodded.

"I think I like these." He said approvingly. His eyes shifted to the old man again. "Do you have jackets?"

"Ho! Off course we have jackets, come." He directed the blond to one corner with lined jackets hanging on a rack. "Here are all the hooded jackets."

"Why does it have to be hooded?" he asked, running his eyes through the colorful selection of jumpers. Satoshi raised his eyebrows in surprised.

"Haven't you seen your hair?" he asked. Naruto ran a hand through his mane.

"Something wrong about it?"

"Any ninja could locate you miles away!"

"Ahh." Now he got it. "Haven't thought about that before." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. Satoshi chuckled.

"Now, which one do you like?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Sorry for taking sooo long. I was so busy with relatives visiting and a few trips out of town. But don't worry I will continue writing.**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 18

Naruto wore a big smile when he visited his usual weapon shop. He glanced at the crossed kunai sign hanging just outside above the entrance door. It had been two months since he last came. The fact that he was received in the store just like any other customer every time he entered made him think that life was not always so unfair with him. The owner had been nice to him since the first time he poked his golden head through the door, looking for service. And not just the owner, but his wife and the brown haired girl that had attended him last time he came to buy his weights. He could only guess she was their daughter.

The whiskered boy entered the shop. He was carrying a white bag with the leaf insignia in the middle storing two brand new pants and two black jackets from his last stop. Satoshi had recommended him to buy at least two sets of clothes, indicating that a ninja was involved in constant combats and clothes didn't last much. The old tailor also said that if he needed any modifications he could just come over again.

"Welcome Naruto." A deep and strong voice greeted. The blond turned to the man who spoke. The man was hanging some kunai on the wooden wall. He turned to the pre-teen with a smile, his lips almost fully covered by his brown beard and mustache. "Haven't seen you in a while." Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"Been kind of busy."

"Right, being a ninja in active duty can consume most of your time." He walked in between the covered glass cases were the weapons and some other ninja accessories, like scrolls and explosive tags, were stored to the counter.

"Now what are you looking for?"

"Weights." He responded quickly.

"How much?"

"Thirty pounds." He only nodded. The store owner was one of the few people that weren't surprised young genins used weights. The brown haired man knit his eyebrows together.

"Naruto, are you planning on just buying a new set every time you want to increase the weight?"

"Er, I guess." Naruto responded, slightly confused.

"Every time you change your set, the next one is going to be larger isn't it?" the owner asked.

"…Yeah." The blond said.

"What are you going to do when your load is so heavy that your body sets' size is going to get in your movements way?" The blond didn't know how to respond that. It did make sense. Naruto hadn't thought about that before. If the sets continued to grow, he wouldn't be able to see his hands or feet eventually.

"Err…" What was he going to do? He really wanted to continue his weight training. He heard the man chuckle.

"Ninjas who use heavy weights…" he bent down, disappearing behind the wooden counter. There was a sound of a cabinet opening and closing. "Buy this." He put a small box on the counter, opened it and started to take out the contents. The curious kid approached.

"These are special weights." He showed the small weight with carved seals on it. "If you push or retrieve chakra into them in the correct way, then their weight can be increased or decreased as you wish." He handed the metallic slugs to the blond. Naruto sent a tiny amount of chakra to the weights and immediately they became heavier.

"And these straps have reinforced seams to support the load of the chakra weights." He explained, also showing the blond the black braces. "You won't have to buy new sets of weights next time you decide to increase your load. Just adjust the weight yourself or bring them to me to adjust them for you."

"How much?" the blond asked immediately, his eyes glued to the objects in front of him.

"Two hundred and fifty yen." He responded sadly. The man's smile faded as he watched Naruto take out his funny looking wallet and stared at it for a moment. Knowing about Naruto's condition, not only about the Kyuubi but also about him being an orphan, he knew that the kid needed to spend the money in more important things like food and shelter rather that training supplies.

"I'll take them, just wait a second." Said the blond. He quickly summoned a kage Bunshin much to the bearded man surprise. "Go to the bank and withdraw a hundred yen, then come back here." The clone nodded and without a word exited the shop and ran away. The owner watched in shock as the clone disappeared after it crossed a corner. _'Just a genin and he can perform such an advanced jutsu.' _

"He'll be back in a minute." The genin said casually. "Can you adjust the load of my new weights in the meantime?" The man stared at him for a second before he smiled widely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Half an hour later Naruto was looking at the black strands around his wrist. It seemed like there was a major gravity force in between his hands and feet to the ground. He had to go earlier to his apartment to change to his new clothes and throw away the blood stained jacket and the perforated orange pants. He also inspected his fridge and cabinets to see what he needed to buy after his time out of home. Naruto threw away two cartons of expired milk and three rotten eggs. Having spent a good amount of money in his new clothes and the new weight set, he decided only to buy groceries for the following week, so he calculated the number of ramen he ate in a week and other things like a new carton of milk, eggs, orange juice and some fruit. Then he summoned another clone and made him go to the grocery store.

Now in the familiar training ground, with battered or even fallen trees, holes in the ground and disintegrated bits of rocks in some places, Naruto hanged his new black jacket on a branch of a nearby tree and stretched a bit. With his cut fully healed, no one could restrict him to train.

'Fox, I'm ready.' The blond informed.

"**Got yourself new weights I see." **The fox chuckled evilly. **"This will be very entertaining to see." **

'Yeah, yeah. I know you like to see people suffer and stuff. Just tell me how many laps to start with.' The blond hasten. Over his way to the training ground he had already visualized how his training was going to turn with his new weights. Naruto just wanted to start getting used to the new load. Kyuubi's smirk fell into a nasty face of annoyance.

"**You're no fun." **Naruto narrowed his eyes. **"Fine." **The fox said in defeat. Suddenly his smirk came back to his snout. **"Since we already doubled your weight, why don't we also double your number of laps you used to do." **The demon smiled in pleasure when the genin paled.

'T-Ten laps?' he gulped. 'But I just got new weights! I'll take much longer to finish them! I might even collapse before finish-"

"**STOP YOUR PATHETHIC WHINING!" **the fox bellowed. Naruto winced at the roaring in his head and shut up. **"The best and faster way to get used to your new weights is train with them as much as you can, you hear me?" **The whiskered kid sighed. He hated when the fox was always right.

"**Today's training will go by rather slow, you better start now if you want to finish before midnight. Now, let the fun begin." **He finished with a sadistic grin. Naruto set off, immediately feeling his arms and legs weighting him down. It was going to be a long training session, he was sure of it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She walked through the long and narrow corridors of the Hyuuga compound with her head low. She could sense the branch members bowing respectfully at her as she passed. Hinata responded with a smile but unlike other days, this one was forced. She knew her father would call her as soon as he is told the heiress has arrived from her first C-ranked mission and would want to know her importance in the completion of the mission.

Hinata made it to her room and closed the door. She took off her brown backpack and started to unzipped it but then stopped and put it on a corner. She would unpack after the meeting with her father. She turned to her bed and lay down, staring at the white ceiling. Barely two minutes had passed when there was a soft knock on her door.

"Lady Hinata, your father wishes to see you in his office." Said a voice from outside. She sighed heavily.

"Arigato." She responded and the person outside her door left. Hinata was sure her father already knew all the details from her mission, he was a member of Konoha's council after all. The last time her father held a meeting with her was when she graduated from the academy and wanted to know her position among all the students on her class. It wasn't pleasant, she recalled. Hinata had ranked fourth. First Uchiha Sasuke, second Aburame Shino and third Sakura.

"_With an Uchiha and even an Aburame is understandable." _Her father had said in a cold tone. _"But a main branch Hyuuga being inferior to a girl that doesn't even belong to a clan, brings shame to our clan. A Hyuuga is meant to excel." _He paused to look at her bowing daughter. _"I had considered training you again if your results were good enough, but the dishonor you carry make you unworthy of training as a proper Hyuuga. Dismissed." _

Devastated. That was the word that would describe perfectly how she had felt after that. Even during the survival test her soon-to-be sensei had apply her new team she still thought about that encounter with her father. She started to doubt herself more than ever and, if it wasn't for Naruto and the comforting words he had said, she would have given up on being a ninja.

Just a quick reminder of how the young Hyuuga just stood behind while the members of team seven faced the enemy. And quick suit her just fine. The kunoichi was more interested to continue her research on a new jutsu she had recently come up with. Now that she paid less attention to the harsh words her father and cousin gave her (her sister didn't even talk to her at all) and focused on keep training and practicing; if they wouldn't acknowledge the hardships Hinata was passing through to get stronger, she knew someone who would.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ugh" Naruto grumbled softly, eyes still closed. _'This goddamn bed keeps getting less comfortable each passing day.'_ He turned to lie on his back, immediately pressing his eyes tightly to the sun light that hit his face rudely. He raised an arm and brought it near his face, blocking the sun rays then he opened his eyes slowly. The blue sky with various puffy white clouds greeted his sight… Then it dawned to him. _'Where the hell is my roof?' _The blond thought confusedly, fearing that the villagers had destroyed his apartment in an attempt of trying to get the Kyuubi container out of the village. He quickly rose to a sitting position and started looking around, immediately recognizing the place where he usually trained.

Naruto groaned. _'Damn it.' _he cursed mentally, remembering falling flat on his face after he had finally finished training (at around one in the morning) for a small rest before going home, but had accidentally lost consciousness.

"What time is it?" the whiskered genin wondered out loud, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning widely. The sun was in its highest point in the sky, it must be somewhere around noon.

"Thank Kami today's my day off." He mumbled. _'It's passed at least ten hours. That fox had better heal my muscles by now.' _He thought as he struggled to stand up. He found himself pleasantly surprised that the only part of his body that was aching was his neck, probably for sleeping on the forest floor. He just felt a slight stiffness on his muscles. A bit more rigidness was felt on muscles he had pulled the night before, he noted as he stretched and brushed some dirt and pieces of grass off his white shirt, especially on his right thigh and the back of his left shoulder since he was sure he tore them during his training.

It feels good when you don't have to wake up every morning feeling that your extremities are on fire, wishing they would just fall off and dealing with sore muscles and nasty bruises until noon. But that just happened when the young Konoha genin got days off and he woke up when he was already healed, all the other days he would just have to suppress groans of pain as he climbed the stairs with the rest of his team to receive their first mission of the day. Naruto walked through the clear towards the tree where his jacket was hanging, He'll take a hot shower as soon as he got home, order a clone do the laundry, eat a fair amount of cupped ramen that would make up for skipping dinner and breakfast and come back to the training spot to continue training. Train, sleep, eat and continue training. _'Life's good.' _Thought the blond with a smirk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You look like shit." Sasuke stated cross-armed, leaning against the wall near the entrance to the Hokage tower. His black eyes watched the limping form of the Kyuubi container approaching.

"Well you don't look any better teme." The blond muttered tiredly. The Uchiha had bruises all over his body, scraps and, like Naruto, dark rings under his eyes. "Seems like you've been doing some training." Naruto said slyly, finding some energy to tease his teammate. The raven haired boy emitted his usual grunt and turned his head away from the blond. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke had started training. In his battle against Haku, Sasuke found himself with an easier manipulation of chakra that lead to an improvement in battle skills, and it was all thanks to mastering that stupid tree climbing exercise. Since then the Uchiha had started designing a training program where he could improve his skills and endurance. The young heir of the Uchiha clan would make sure he wasn't going to be left behind in the future.

"Where's Sakura?" the blond asked looking around. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. As if on cue, the pink haired kunoichi came running towards them.

"Sorry for being late." She said after regaining her breath. "Good morning." She added. Sasuke nodded shortly in acknowledgement. Naruto just stared at her with a cocked eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

"Did you trained last night too?" he asked suspiciously, looking at the rings lining her eyes.

"No… well not yet." She said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "I was doing some reading." _'Maybe a bit too much.' _The pink haired girl thought tiredly. Naruto nodded.

"Right." He said and kept quiet, not really eager to know what she was reading.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed suddenly, making Naruto and Sasuke jump a bit.

"What?"

"Your clothes." Sakura said, pointing at Naruto. She had just noticed. The blond looked down at his new pants and jacket. "They're not orange!"

"Yeah I changed them, so what?" said the blond, getting a bit irritated when Sakura made a big fuss about everything.

"Was about time, dobe." Sasuke commented with a smirk. "I was wondering when you would get over the thing you had for orange." Naruto ran a hand through his hair, finding it unnecessary to tell why he bought his last attire. He'll let them think what they wanted.

"You look weird and kind of older." Continued the green-eyed girl with a hand under her shin, analyzing the genin in front of her. The whiskered boy blocked her comments about how he looked. He then sensed someone about to materialize near them and sighed in relief.

"Good morning, my disciples." Kakashi said, appearing in a puff of smoke on top of a light post. He leapt down. "Whoa, tough night?" he asked once he got a closer look at the weary faces of the kids. The three genins emitted a tired groan in response.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Five days passed and team seven continued to do missions, although the number of missions they did daily lowered. The kids looked so worn out that a good number of villagers thinked they've been doing A-ranked missions everyday when they saw them walk unsteadily down the street (this applied mostly for Naruto, and Sasuke in some cases). The blond was as battered as ever in the morning. Sasuke was often rubbing his leg, seeming that he had strained a muscle doing something he didn't specify to his teammates when they asked him. Sakura could be seen with superficial cuts around her arms, some would disappear magically the next day, much like Naruto's injuries. Their sensei would say nothing, discretely examining their reactions their self-assigned exercises, ready to step in when it was too much for them to handle.

"It seems that the chuunin exam came earlier this time." Said Asuma with a cigarette hanging on his lips. "It's hard to believe six months have already passed since the last one."

"Well, being in charge of three genins makes days pass faster." Kurenai said from behind as she made her way through the other tables and took the empty seat besides the bearded man. She smiled at the Sarutobi but quickly scowled when her eyes switched to a grey haired man located in front of her.

"Aren't you sick of reading that perverted book of yours? Seriously, how many times have you read it?" she asked.

"Hmm" Kakashi mused, eyes not leaving the orange book. "Can't remember." Kurenai shook her head and Asuma smiled.

"I just pray that your kids never find out what it is about." The sharingan user smirked under his mask but decided to stay silent.

"Anyways, I'm going to enter my trio to the exam when the Hokage decides to announce it." Asuma said, taking a deep drag from his cigarette. "It'll probably be soon, I've already seen genins from other villages strolling around." The dark haired woman nodded.

"I think mine are ready to take that kind of challenge, they have a great teamwork." She took the glass in front of her and took a sip from her sake. "Facing new opponents will make them more experienced."

"What about you Kakashi?" The brown eyed shinobi inquired.

"Yeah, why not." He said casually. "It'll be interesting to see the development of all the rookies. And who knows? Maybe one of them will make it chuunin."

"It would certainly be interesting." Asuma agreed, taking a big gulp from his mug. "When was the last time fresh genins entered the chuunin exam? Five years ago?"

"Seven." Corrected Kurenai. "But that time just one team entered." There was silence for a moment until something came to the dark haired genjutsu specialist.

"I just hope Iruka doesn't interfere." Kakashi said plainly. The two jounins frowned.

"Why would he interfere?" Kurenai asked with a frown.

"Well, every time he sees me he would ask me not to go too hard on the kids. He wonders about their progress, especially Naruto's" he said. Asuma nodded, then said.

"Yeah, he always seems concern… Maybe a bit too much."

"Do you think he will? He must know we are their new senseis now." The woman said. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's just see what happens."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I already told you, Konohamaru." The blond said exasperated, walking down a dirt path that led to the thick forest that surrounded the village. "I've got to train." Kakashi had gave them the evening off before he disappeared off, but he didn't say why. Maybe it had something to do with him gazing at an eagle flying all over the village.

"Aww please, nii-chan." The dark haired, tooth missing boy pleaded, running up to Naruto and standing in front of the older boy, making him stop. "You never play with us."

"He's right, Naruto-nii." Said the orange haired girl, accompanied by a "Uh huh" from Udon. The whiskered kid sighed. Ever since he had confronted the Hokage's grandson in a meeting with the Sandaime when he was still in the academy, the kid would always appear trying to attack him by surprise or ask him to play with him and his two classmates, Udon and Moegi.

Every time Naruto sensed them coming he tried to guess which one will be this time: Uzumaki Naruto, Konohamaru's arch-nemesis, where the scarf wearing kid will challenge him to a duel and his little friends would be the referees; or Uzumaki Naruto, Konohamaru's big brother, where the group of three kids would ask him to play tag, hide and seek, and for some reason 'ninja'. Personally, he preferred when Konohamaru asked him to fight. Just a small paralysis jutsu and he was off.

"Fine, if you don't want to play with us, I'll tell Iruka-sensei you taught me the Oiroke(sexy) no Jutsu." Konohamaru said with a sly smile, fidgeting with his green goggles that resembled the one Naruto had. The blond's eye twitched slightly. He remembered the day he had used that particular technique in class to kill the boredom. Iruka's berating had almost burst his eardrums, he also had to mop the entire classroom and clean the graffiti off the desks. He had told the story to Konohamaru a couple of weeks after he graduated, the boy begged to the blond to teach him the technique and Naruto agreed.

He had had enough of Iruka lectures and reprimands during his four years at the Academy. Maybe he'll just create a clone that could play with them… His thoughts were interrupted when the blond felt the uneasy sensation of being watched. He narrowed his eyes and subconsciously started sliding into his fighting stance.

"All right!" Konohamaru said cheerfully. "We are playing ninja then. Team Konohamaru, three-alpha formation!" He shouted. His friends nodded and spread into a circle around the Kyuubi container. Apparently the spiky haired academy student had misread Naruto adopting his fighting stance as an agreement to play with them.

"Konohamaru, right now is not time to play." Naruto said, trying to spot the stalker. "There's someone watching us."

"Huh?" The kids asked at the same time as they dropped their not so good fighting stances. It moved!

"Quick! Get close to me!" The blond yelled, alarmed noticeable in his tone. Just as he finished his sentence, a black figure leapt from a tree towards them, landing right behind Moegi. Black cloak, two umbrellas on his back, mask covering his mouth and a metal plate craved with the hidden rain village symbol on his hat. Konohamaru and Udon let out frightened gasps while Moegi's body started to tremble when she heard a chuckle behind her.

"You'll be my hostage." The shinobi said darkly, his voice slightly muffled by the mask he was wearing. He extended his arms to seize the girl when…

BAM!

A yellow blur shot directly towards him and before he could blink, an iron fist connected to his face and sent intruder flying across the air. His flight was stopped by an unexpected tree, which splintered under the impact of his back against it. The ninja raised a hand to nurse his dislocated if not broken mandible. _'Fast.' _Was all he could process in his mind. Footsteps came towards him. He raised his eyes to see a towering and fuming blond bending down and grabbing the front of his vest.

"You're a foreign shinobi, right?" Naruto seethed, lifting the man to meet his eyes. The rain shinobi was still in shock, and could only stare.

"_You _are in _my_ village, trying to kidnap a friend of mine, am I right again?" he asked, turning to point at the frightened young girl in the arms of Konohamaru, his blue eyes really close to the pupil-less ones of the man. The man gulped.

"So _that _makes _you_ my ENEMY!" The ninja closed his eyes, waiting for the blow to hit him. And certainly, it came. The fist hit him traight in the face sent him flying again. This time there wasn't a tree on the ninja's path, so he just waited for gravity to do its job and after a few seconds his body sore body hit the ground. He bounced a few times over himself before completely stopping. The ninja groaned painfully, his mouth tasted like blood and there was some of that liquid pouring down his nose, also his nose didn't feel right. Footsteps again. The ninja lifted his head from his lying position rapidly. To his great horror, the kid that had hit him twice was walking slowly towards him again. His eyes widened. _'He's gonna kill me!" _he thought horrified. _'All right Kakashi, you win. They pass.' _With rapid and a bit trembling hands he made a hand seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Bastard." Naruto growled, skidding into a halt.

"Naruto nii-chan that was great!" Konohamaru said excitedly, running to his side.

"Arigatou, arigatou! You are the greatest." Moegi said, embracing the blond into a hug.

"Your welcome." Naruto said with a smile, patting the girl in the head. "But I need to report the Hokage about this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean taken care of?" Asked the blond, standing up in front of the Hokage's desk, filled with piles of documents either sides. After dodging the guards of the last floor and hurriedly passing the secretary that occupied a smaller desktop to the right of the Sandaime's entrance door, Naruto told the Hokage the incident with the rain ninja.

"The intruder has been found by the ANBU trying to sneak through the forest." Sarutobi lied. "There's nothing to worry about, Naruto." The whiskered kid relaxed. The old man smiled at Naruto's concern.

"Your training has really paid off." Said the Hokage. "That ninja didn't stand a chance against you."

"Are you still spying on me with that crystal ball of yours?" The blond demanded angrily. If there was something he appreciated was his privacy.

"Oh my, look at the time." The Hokage said, glancing at an invisible watch in his hand. "An important client is coming in this very moment. You better go now. I'm sure you've got lots of training to do." He stood up from his chair and ushered the grouchy blond out of his office. The Third closed the door behind him. He sighed when Naruto's voice had stopped and his footsteps faded.

"He looks awfully like Minato." Someone said from outside the window. The Hokage didn't react to the voice and instead walked towards the pictures of the previous Hokages hanging in the wall and gazed at the Fourth.

"He surely does." The old Hokage responded, looking sadly at the blond in the portrait. "And I'm sure that in a few years he will resemble him a lot more." A big, white haired man entered the office through an open window.

"So, Jiraiya." The Hokage started, sitting back in his chair. "Are you going to train him?"

"I thought you were kidding when you told me about his training routine, sensei." Jiraiya said. "So I decided to take a look yesterday. The kid's a hard worker." He said, a hand on his chin.

"Are you?" Sarutobi pressed. The white haired man looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I think I am." He finally said and the Hokage nodded with a satisfied smile. "And not just for Minato. Naruto really's got potential." Sarutobi nodded again. Jiraiya's face now turned somber.

"Have you noticed he sometimes speaks alone?" he asked his old sensei, whose face turned serious also.

"Yes. I reckon he has been communicating with the Kyuubi for quite some time now." He opened a drawer and took out his pipe.

"I don't like the idea of the demon training him." Jiraiya said, remembering the howls of laughter that would erupt from the Kyuubi after annihilating another platoon of jounins. "I don't trust that fox." The Hokage nodded gravely, lighting his pipe and taking a long drag.

"Perhaps the fox has changed." The Third offered hopefully.

"Perhaps the fox is tricking him, waiting for the right moment to overtake his body." Jiraiya replied. The Sandaime joined the tip of his long fingers.

"Whatever the case may be, you're a master in seals and you'll be there if something happens." He concluded.

"Do you have any news from Orochimaru?" The Sandaime said, changing the topic but the seriousness in his voice remained. "Last time you came here he had become the leader of the Sound."

"It's been a long time since he has made any moves." Said Jiraiya. "But there has been contact between him and the Kazekage for a while now." The older man's eyebrows popped up.

"What could Orochimaru want with the Sand?" Asked the Hokage.

"Well, what Orochimaru always wants is Konoha's downfall." Stated the white haired man, matter-of-factly. "And my sources informed me that there's been a lot of activity among the Sound troops."

"An alliance between Sound and Sand." The Sandaime contemplated. "… Against Konoha." Jiraiya grunted in agreement.

"I'm almost completely positive that they will take advantage of the Chuunin exam, where both villages can attack inside."

"Yes, take an occasion that is meant to build friendship and turn it into a war." Sarutobi said sadly. "Orochimaru will come personally to guide his troops." The man deduced.

"Most certainly." Jiraiya agreed.

"I we could only get rid of him, the Sound would probably disperse."

"What are you planning to do then? Attack when you spot him?" The old student asked, but the Hokage shook his head.

"Konoha never attacks first, Jiraiya." He told him.

"Right." The toad hermit said.

"I'm not sure if I can beat him now, he's gotten so much stronger." Sarutobi said. "I think we have a better chance if we fight him together."

"You and me?" Jiraiya inquired.

"You, me… and Tsunade."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I can't believe how strong he's gotten." Iruka said from his place in the hospital bed. A nurse had just rearranged his mandible and healed his split lip, now she was working on his nose right now. Her glowing hands were placed on top of it and there was a cracking sound as the nasal bones were placed in the right place. The scarred chuunin winced painfully. Kakashi chuckled slightly.

"You're lucky he fought you with his weights on." The grey haired ninja said, his non-fractured nose buried in his dirty book. Iruka's eyes widened.

"Weights? I didn't know he did weight training." He said in surprise.

"Now stay still as I heal your eye." The brunette said, placing her hands on top of Iruka's left eye. Kakashi nodded.

"I think he's between twenty or thirty pounds, I'm not sure." The swelling of the black eye started to fade rapidly, relieving Iruka from the pain. "He takes his training pretty serious you know."

"You're done." The nurse concluded. "I'll be going now."

"Between twenty or thirty." Repeated Iruka. "I guess he's going to do better than I thought on the exam."

"I'm sorry about my behavior on the meeting, Kakashi." The scarred man said, head bowed. "I just needed to be sure that Naruto and the others could survive in the exam." Kakashi lifted his eyes from his book and looked at Iruka.

"Don't worry about that. You're fond of them and that's not bad. I'm sure Naruto would appreciate your concern, you're one of the few people that actually show that for him." Kakashi explained and Iruka smiled.

"It was pretty fortunate you chose to face him last." The copy cat ninja continued, returning to his lecture. "You couldn't have tested the rest of the rookies appropriately after fighting Naruto." Iruka chuckled.

"Guess you're right. Are you going to tell them today?" the chuunin asked.

"They are already off for today. I'll do it tomorrow morning."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You signed us in for the Chuunin exam?" A perplexed Sakura asked. Sasuke handed her an application form and she started reading it. '_Isn't it too soon?'_ she thought with a frown.

"Hai." Kakashi responded. "But you are not forced to take it."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, looking at him after finishing reading the form.

"It means that you can take it or not, it's your decision." The grey haired man said. "No one will blame you if you decide not to take it, after all it's celebrated every six moths and-"

"Off course we'll take it, anything to stop doing those stupid missions. Hey teme, do you have a pen?" Naruto asked the Uchiha after he searched in his own pockets. Sasuke shook his head absent mindedly, still staring at the admission paper with some unknown determination in his onyx eyes. _'I'm not as strong as them, but I've been progressing in my training.' _

"Sakura?" The blond turned to the pink haired girl who was still thinking about the exam. Naruto's voice broke her chain of though.

"Huh?" she asked stupidly.

"A pen. Do you have one?" he said.

"Um no, sorry." She responded shortly and her gaze fell again on the piece of paper she was holding in her hands. Naruto frowned and looked at Sasuke who was also analyzing the girl. Team seven's sensei eyed the female member of his team.

"Anyway, If you're going to take it just sign it and bring it to the Academy at 3 p.m by Monday. Room 301." Kakashi said. "That's about it. I'll give you those five days off for you to train or rest or whatever you want to do, see you." And with that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the three genins of group seven alone.

"He's lying about the 'you decide to take it or not' part." Sasuke commented with his arms crossed. Sakura's head shot up. "The Chuunin exam is supposed to be taken in groups of three persons. Only in special occasions there can be groups of two or just one genin."

"How do you know that?" she asked and the raven haired Uchiha shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Also, the genins from other villages have been hanging around Konoha, and they all go in groups of three." Naruto nodded.

"So, if we want to enter the chuunin exam, the only way would be if all three of us accepted." The Uchiha continued.

"Why would Kakashi-sensei lie to us?" Sakura asked confused.

"You know him, he always want us to look underneath the underneath. There must be always a trap." Naruto finally joined the conversation. "To improve our teamwork or something."

"Hmm." Sakura nodded thoughtfully. Somehow, finding out about their sensei's little trick didn't make her feel more secure. It would be better if Sasuke and Naruto entered the exam without her, that way she wouldn't hold them down. But now, if they wanted to enter the exam (and they both did) she would have to enter with them. She sighed.

"Look guys, I don't think I'm suited to enter the exam just now." She said slowly, eyes on her sandals.

"Why not?" asked the Uchiha, expecting Sakura to feel insecure.

"I'm not strong as you are, and you have much more endurance than me and-" She was interrupted by Naruto's chuckled.

"Being a ninja doesn't depend on pure strength and endurance." The blond said, trying to make her gain more confidence. He nudged Sasuke on the ribs. The Uchiha glared at the blond and turned to Sakura.

"He's right. You've got other important skills." Sakura looked up at his crush with a suspicious expression.

"Like?" she asked, wanting to hear her important skills.

"You know, you're smart, got the best chakra control among us, uhm." The pink haired girl was bewildered. Was Sasuke complimenting her?

"Your punches are not as weak as you think." Naruto added, recalling some spars between them. Sakura could really pack a punch when she as pissed.

"What else? Oh! You are good at placing and disguising traps, seeing through genjutsu…" Sakura was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Look you're part of the team, OK? Without you, who knows how many traps dobe might get us in." Naruto 'tch'ed but said nothing. "You are competent and have good analyzing skills, there. You fulfill must of the qualities a good ninja must have."

"See, Sakura? You're not completely useless." The blond added with a sheepish grin. The blond expected her to shout at him or try to smack him on the head but to his great surprise, she smiled to him.

"Guess I'm not." She agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**I know that in the series, Kakashi is supposed to give his team the chuunin exam inscriptions first and then Iruka would apply the preliminary entrance exam, but I thought it'll make more sense if they passed the test first and then Kakashi would allow them to enter the Chuunin exam.**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 19

"Should we tell them about the genjutsu?" wondered the pink haired girl to her two teammates as they approached the small crowd gathered near what appeared to be room 301. The door was being guarded by two older kids, saying something about the difficulty of the chuunin exam.

"If they aren't able to tell this is the second floor, it's better for them to miss the chuunin exam." Sasuke said carelessly but he was narrowing his eyes. The raven haired boy could feel one pair of eyes on his back that had been watching him ever since he entered the building. The stare seemed to come from someone from the team that followed them up the stairs. Sasuke had seen the team before, downstairs when they were submitting their applications. His appearance wasn't hard to forget. The boy was wearing a green spandex and had a weird haircut, with the biggest eyebrows the Uchiha had ever seen.

Walking by his side, Naruto had a mischievous grin on his face. He remembered the day when Kakashi had put them in a low ranked genjutsu so that they practiced how to get out of it, but before that, he explained how a genjutsu worked and how to get rid of it.

-----flashback-------

"_I trust they told you what a genjutsu was at the academy." Kakashi said to his audience from a tree branch. They had done three D-ranks and were in training ground seven. Sakura nodded fervently._

"_A genjutsu is an illusionary technique that affects the chakra on the victim's body, disturbing and deceiving his or her senses." She responded rapidly, the information of their academy books still fresh in her mind. Kakashi nodded._

"_Yes, a genjutsu can make you see, smell, taste or feel sensations that are not there. That way, the caster can make you attack your friends, making you see them as foes, and we don't want that to happen. So it would be useful if you knew how to recognize it and hopefully dispel it." He paused, making sure they were listening. Sakura was sitting down, cross-legged, with her back as straight as it could be, looking intently at him so she wouldn't miss anything. The Uchiha had his leg stretched in front of him with his hands against the ground, supporting him from behind as he stared at nothing in particular, but listening nonetheless. He then turned to the lying form of the blond who was gazing at the sky with his eyes closed. He had been like that since they arrived after doing three missions and was possibly sleep._

"_Naruto." He called. The blond didn't show any signs that he had listened but Kakashi continued. "How do you recognize a genjutsu?" Naruto didn't say anything. It was when Sakura thought he wasn't going to say anything and was about to answer for him that he talked._

"_I would hope the other guy was stupid enough to make me see something that doesn't fit." He responded without opening his eyes and fell silent again._

"_You mean that there would be an inconsistency of the genjutsu world with reality." Kakashi said._

"_Sure." The blond said._

"_Ok we'll go with that." The copy cat ninja said and Naruto smirked."Now, ways to get out of a genjutsu, Sakura?" _

"_One would be disrupting the flow of chakra in your body and the jutsu will disappear instantaneously." She said. "Another one is to distract the caster out of performing the genjutsu and the last one is to inflict pain upon yourself to shock the senses."_

"_That last one is not recommended as it could slow your movements and fighting could become harder but suit yourselves." Kakashi said in a bored tone. "There's one last way of shutting out a genjutsu."_

"_There is?" Sakura asked in confusion. "But they just mentioned three in the academy." _

"_Well, maybe because this one is less recommended than maiming yourself." _

"_And what would that be?" Sasuke asked with a slight raise of his eyebrow._

"_Compress your chakra and release it on the form of a shockwave that can take off the genjutsu, but this will only work if you can generate enough to reach the caster, that can prove very difficult and exhaustive. Only ninjas with chakra to spare can perform it without falling in chakra depletion." Even with his eyes clothes, Naruto could feel his sensei's one eye resting on him as he said that._

-----End flashback------

They were getting closer to the crowd and the blond summoned a bit of his chakra below his bellybutton. _'Too much.' _He withdrew a fraction of the chakra compressed to try and make the amount smaller. They were now passing in front of the guarded door.

'_That would do.' _And with that, he released the chakra he'd been holding up. A tingle was felt all around his body until the chakra left the blond in form of chakra pulse that washed over anyone and anything in a sixteen pulse radius. The genins felt the warm energy over them and started looking around, wondering what happened. Gasps were heard on the hall, the ninjas were looking around looking for the person responsible. The two genins that were standing in front of the door looked at each other with confuse expressions. Sasuke and Sakura immediately turned around to face his teammate with accusingly glares. Naruto just shrugged.

"Look, the sign!" Someone yelled. Effectively, the sign that read '301' suddenly changed to '201'. The undercover chuunin examiners looked at it in shock.

"It was a genjutsu." Another genin said importantly, as if he was the first one to realize.

"We should hurry to the correct room, then." Her teammate suggested. All the genins started to walk to the stairs that went to the third floor. Seeing that there was no point in staying any longer, the two chuunins disappeared in a puff of smoke, appearing behind a semi open door that faced the place where the chakra pulse was felt.

"That boy is really something." The boy with a reddened nose said, before changing into his real appearance.

"Not even I can extend my chakra that far." His friend said, also discarding his henge.

"It's a shame, though." The one with a bandage over his nose said with a sniff. "We could have gotten rid of at least five teams." The other chuunin nodded.

"Why did you do that for?" Sakura said angrily. "You could have gotten yourself in a fight with those guys."

"I was just practicing how to dispel genjutsus. What is wrong with that?" Naruto said trying to sound innocent. The pink haired girl let out an exasperated sighed. Sasuke said nothing and walked ahead, still a bit irked about Naruto being able to create such a big chakra pulse. They had taken a second exit that passed through a big spacious room with wooden floor and led to another set of stairs. It took longer to get to the third floor, but Naruto didn't want to struggle his way through the other stairs among the other genins. He also pointed out he was tired of feeling the guy who was walking behind them staring at him ever since he had done the chakra pulse. Sasuke agreed, wanting to get rid of the other pair of eyes that were burning in the back of his head.

Just when team seven was half their way through the sparring room, a voice was heard from entrance door.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Someone called. The genin trio looked up to see who was calling the dark haired boy. Sasuke recognized him as the genin he saw downstairs. Hopefully he would tell him what he wanted and he would stop stalking him. Man, those eyebrows kinda freaked him out. "My name is Rock Lee and I have com-" His words were interrupted by the loud barks of laughter of the blond. Sasuke had pretty much guessed this would happen and waited for Naruto to finish. Sakura, although disapproving that you shouldn't laugh at someone's appearance, was watching the new kid with a bemused expression.

"I think two hairy slugs are trying to eat your face." he asked in between gasps, pointing at Lee's face, after he recovered from his initial fit. Lee looked annoyed, but tried to ignore the mocking kid.

"As I was saying…" Lee cleared his throat, trying to regain the Uchiha's attention. "I've come to challenge you to a fight, Uchiha Sasuke. I'm going to prove that hard work beats the genius type. Also…" The bowl cut haired kid leapt down and turned to the pink haired girl. Sakura jumped slightly when those big eyes were on her. "May I know the name of the beautiful lady?" Sakura froze and Naruto stopped laughing.

"You've got to be kidding." The whiskered kid said in disbelief, wondering if that boy had sight impediments. The green eyed girl was so shock that missed Naruto's comment.

"S-Sakura." She said weakly.

"Sakura-chan." Lee repeated dreamily. "I've never seen someone so graceful in my entire life." Team seven was officially dumbstruck.

"Be my girlfriend." He said suddenly. "There'll be nothing I would do for you." Sakura's eyes became so big that they seemed threaten to pop out of their sockets.

"That's very, uhm, flattering." She said after recovering from the unexpected words. "But no."

"Huh?" the boy asked crestfallen.

"You're not my type." Sakura continued, trying to be as gentle as possible. Lee lower his head, making that hair of his cover his eyes. When he raised his head again, flames were adorning his eyes.

"I will never give up on you, my love!" he exclaimed, raising his fists. "I will prove myself to you by defeating Sasuke-kun!" The members of team seven stared at him. Sasuke, tired listening to his nonsense, stepped forward.

"Let's just finish this quickly, we got a chuunin exam to attend." He said. Lee grinned and put his left arm behind him, extending his right in front of him.

The Uchiha shot straight at him, sending his fist to his face, but Lee disappeared before it made contact. _'Where di-" _A flying leg came at him from his back. Sasuke was quick enough to duck before it hit but the other genin spun rapidly.

"Konoha Senpuu*!" Lee yelled firmly. Sasuke, seeing he would be able to dodge it, tried to block it.

"Ouch." The blond grimaced, at the sight of Sasuke getting pulverized by Lee. "That's gotta hurt." Sakura was also watching, but instead of the careless air Naruto had, hers was full of worry.

"If he's just using taijutsu, why can't he block his attacks?" she asked with distress in her voice, after hearing the boy explain how his attacks worked. Every time Sasuke tried to stopped a punch or a kick, it passed right through his guard. The pink haired girl had been surprised and relief just a moment ago, when the dark haired genin activated his sharingan, but that just lasted a few moments because not even with his blood limit active could Sasuke defend himself.

"Because fuzzy brows' taijutsu is in a whole other level." Naruto responded with a yawn, baptizing the new kid with a name of his own creation. "His greater agility, strength and speed leaves him out of Sasuke's reach. His sharingan may see his movements perfectly but Sasuke's body is too slow to catch up." Sakura kept watching intently at Sasuke. This time he was flying up in the air, courtesy of one of Lee's kicks. The green jumpsuit wearing ninja had leapt into the air and positioned himself behind the raven haired boy. Naruto frowned as Lee's bandages in his arms started to unravel. Seeing that Lee's purpose was smashing Sasuke into the floor and that could possibly break his neck in the process, the Kyuubi container took out a kunai and threw it in the air, towards the fighting duo. The weapon caught the end of one of the bandages and connected with the wall, imbedding itself in it tightly, with the piece of cloth between the kunai and the wall.

"Wha-" Lee asked in confusion, when a blond coming at him like a flash kicked him in the face, sending him away from his teammate and crashing into the floor.

"I believe you already prove you're stronger than him." Naruto said coldly, after landing gracefully on the floor. Being as stunned as he was, Sasuke just knew he was falling and did nothing to land correctly. Fortunately, Sakura caught him before he hit the floor. "There's no need for you to hurt him any further." Lee stood rapidly but said nothing, as if agreeing with the blond that that move wasn't necessary.

"There'll be a punishment waiting for you, Lee." Someone said. Lee seemed to recognize the voice and ducked his head. "That technique is forbidden." Team seven looked at their right to see a big turtle, wearing the Konoha headband around it's green neck continue to scold the older genin.

"Could that turtle be his sensei?" Sakura asked after a moment of silence, where they just stared at them.

"Odd things seem to happen around that guy." The blond commented. Sasuke just couldn't believe he had lost to someone that would bow to a talking turtle.

"We better get going or we won't be able to get to room 301 in time." The pink haired girl said and her two teammates nodded.

"Let's go before things get weirder." Immediately after that, a puff of smoke appeared on top of the turtle.

"THE POWER OF YOUTH KEEPS GROING INSIDE YOU! I CAN FEEL IT!" A man said loudly in an odd posture.

"He's a freaking clone." Naruto said and his teammates nodded with their eyes wide as plates. He had seen the man partially a long time ago but now he wished he hadn't seen him so clearly.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed in adoration but was welcomed by a punch across his face, marking it with a second bruise.

"You could have killed that kid, Lee. You are to do five hundreds laps around the training ground." The man with eyebrows as big as Lee said. His student wept and just said his name.

"But don't worry! You're young and young people make mistakes!"

"Sensei!"

"Come Lee!" the man extended his arms and Lee embraced him. Gai, Lee and even the turtle were crying.

"That's just wrong." The pink haired girl muttered. The trio felt a chill go down their spine when the weird looking man shot them a shiny grin and gave them the thumps up.

"Let's get the hell outta here before he hugs us too." Naruto said and team seven hurried to the stairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Judging by your disturbed faces I can deduce you met Gai." Kakashi said calmly, leaning against the wall perpendicular to the entrance doors of room 301.

"You know that guy?" Naruto asked in disbelief. The masked ninja sighed and then nodded.

"I do. He calls himself my eternal rival and is always challenging me into one activity or another." Kakashi said as he recalled the countless and pointless challenges he had to do to get rid of his jounin partner. "He's one of the best taijutsu users in the whole country, though."

"I heard that you were involved in a fight against one of Gai's students." He said, looking at Sasuke.

"He started it." The Uchiha replied with a pout, not finding a better excuse. Sakura nodded besides him.

"Having unofficial fights will lead to immediate disqualification from the chuunin exam." Kakashi warned. "So next time someone challenges you, I'll recommend to resist the temptation." Sasuke 'hmp'ed and said nothing more.

"Alright, since you all three came, you have the right to enter the exam." Naruto and Sasuke smiled satisfactorily pleased with themselves that they had seen through the trick while Sakura bowed her head a little, thinking about how close she was from keeping her two teammates from taking the exam if she hadn't come.

"You'd better enter now or you'll be left locked outside." Kakashi said, gesturing to the doors.

"If we're left out we'll be blaming you for keeping us here." Naruto said as they passed their sensei towards the entrance. The masked ninja smiled.

"Don't cause too much trouble." He added as an afterthought. The last thing Kakashi saw before the doors were closed was a smirking Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"They're so big." Sakura muttered to herself at the sight that greeted them when they entered. Hundreds of eyes turned to team seven. Spread along the classroom were, ninjas from every height, weight and skin color. The girl wondered how that much people could fit in the room. Her eyes drifted from big muscles to shiny weapons and gulped. It was an intimidating sight but the pink haired girl fought back the urge to step back. _'Size isn't what matters.' _She reminded herself to try and ease the nerves.

"Is that guy supposed to be a genin?" asked the blond in a skeptical tone, pointing at a grown man with a mustache with a Konoha headband. Sasuke ignored his comment.

"Let's just focus on passing this." He said in a firm tone, his anger for loosing just a few minutes ago against Lee now replaced with excitement and determination on surpassing him and the rest of the future competitors.

"Oh! Sasuke-kun!" a feminine and seductive voice came from behind Sasuke. The Uchiha felt someone hugging him from behind. "It's been so long!"

"Get off!" he commanded with a twitch of his eye. With a swift and brusque movement, he shook Ino off his back.

"Awww." She said dejectedly. "I'm just sooo happy to see you again." Sasuke sighed and now remembered why he was so relieved when he left the academy.

"Well, it seems Sasuke-kun isn't happy to see you." Sakura said with a smug smile. Ino glared at her rival.

"You and your big forehead don't know what you are talking about. I bet Sasuke-kun throws up every morning just thinking about having to see you." She said. A vein formed on Sakura's mentioned forehead as she sent her own reply, which also seemed to anger Ino.

"That would explain why you are so thin." Naruto whispered to Sasuke without taking his eyes off the fighting pair, clearly amused.

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped, annoyed to be the center of their discussion.

"Man, they're gonna attract everyone's attention." Shikamaru sighed, approaching the scene with Chouji and team eight.

"Seriously, Uchiha, what did you do to those girls? Weren't they supposed to be friends?" Kiba asked, turning to the Nara who nodded.

"Hey, I just want to be left alone but they just don't seem to understand." Sasuke said with a pained face.

"I sure as hell wouldn't want to be you." Shikamaru said. "Women are so troublesome." He stated and every boy nodded in agreement except Kiba.

"Hey! Hinata's not troublesome." He said angrily at the shadow user, Akamaru barked sportingly from inside Kiba's jacket.

"I agree with Kiba." Shino said neutrally. "Hinata is pleasant and reserved." The boys, again, nodded.

"So, where is she?" Naruto asked.

"Wanted to greet her cousin." Said the dog user pointing towards the crowd with his thumb. "He's an asshole if you ask me. Always glaring at her, even when she's always kind to him." Naruto peered at the spot Kiba was pointing. Surely, there were the two Hyuugas but the blond saw other two persons he recognized. The big eyebrow weirdo whom they had just seen a couple minutes ago and the girl that had attended him once when he went to buy his weight. They were smiling at Hinata. Naruto read Tenten's lips say _'Good luck to you too.' _Lee nodded vigorously besides Hinata's cousin spoke but the blond couldn't tell what he said, as he almost didn't moved his lips but it seemed that his comment made Hinata hunched her shoulders a bit and his two teammates looked at him disapprovingly.

"I think it's better to break them off before they start throwing kunai at each other." The Akimichi said, noticing that the girl's had stopped their verbal fight, but were now fixing each other with menacing glares. Shikamaru sighed.

"Fine." He said and started walking towards them. "C'mon Ino, stop being so troublesome. We're in the chuunin exams remember?"

"I AM NOT TROUBLESOME!" she bellowed, her anger now turned to his lazy teammate. Shikamaru, seeming that he had been in this situation a lot of times, sighed again boredly. A shaking Chouji extended his shaky arm, offering his teammate a bag of chips in an attempt of calming her down, which only served to anger her more. Sasuke had better luck in dealing with Sakura.

"Sakura, focus." He said with an annoyed expression. With those two words, the pink haired girl lowered her head.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun." Seeing that Sakura was moving towards her teammates, shooting a last glare at Ino, who returned immediately but said nothing more.

"Sorry I took so long." Came Hinata's voice from behind. Her face was trying to hide a sad expression with a small smile. They all turned to her. Seeing new faces, she systematically started to greet them politely.

"Hello Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan." She said with a smile. Sakura smiled and Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement but the raven haired girl had froze. If they were there, that meant-

"What? No hello for me?" said Naruto from besides Ino.

"N-N-Naruto-kun." She stammered. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of attitude while everyone watched in amusement at their behavior. Well, everyone except Kiba, who now remembered why he despised the blond and was now glaring at him. Usually, when she saw orange she knew immediately that the demon container was nearby, but with his new clothes just his golden hair remained familiar. He now looked so different, so serious and mature and hands- She stopped her train of thought and noticed that everyone was looking at her. _'Say something!' _"G-Gomen, I-I just couldn't recognize y-you with y-your new clothes." Ino's and Sakura's fight had distracted everyone from Naruto's new attire, but now that Hinata had mentioned it...

"I knew something was different about you." Ino said, looking at Naruto from head to toe. Kiba nodded.

"Dude! It was about-"

"-Time, I know." Naruto finished Kiba's sentence.

"Told ya." Sasuke commented slightly with a smirk. Naruto ignored him.

"Honestly, you were the only one that thought wearing orange being a ninja was a good idea." Shikamaru added. Chouji nodded behind him.

"I knew you couldn't be _that _stupid." Ino said and Kiba snickered.

"Alright I get it!" The blond snapped at them, visibly annoyed. "Wearing orange was stupid! Could you just let it go?" The others fell silent.

"Fine." Kiba said.

"Jeesh, what a temper." Ino muttered.

"Thank you." Naruto sighed. Hinata lowered her head. He probably hated her now, given that she was the one that brought up the topic and clearly he wasn't comfortable that everyone else talked about it.

"So, all nine rookies?" Chouji said slowly, trying to break the silence.

"Yes, It seems like it's not very usual." Said the bug user.

"Now I see why everyone was staring at us." Sakura said, looking around. "Is staring at us." She corrected.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they all targeted us." Sasuke mused, surveying the other ninjas.

"Let them come!" said Kiba enthusiastically. "We'll beat them one by one, right Hinata?"

"Uh? Uhm, hai. We'll do our best." She said softly, but her tone sounded firm. _'Well, she's got more confidence.' _Naruto thought.

"You guys might want to keep it down if you don't want to be the everyone's aim." A grey haired boy, probably two or three years older than them said as he approached.

"I think that's inevitable, given that by their standards we are the weakest." Shikamaru said lazily, pointing at the crowd behind.

"Well, I guess you're right." The genin wearing big round glasses said with an easy smile, scratching his neck.

"Who are you anyway?" Kiba asked rather rudely, his nostrils wide, as if he was trying to figure him out by his scent.

"Ah, sorry. My name is Yakushi Kabuto and this is my seventh time taking the exam."

"Then it must be really be as hard as they say." Said Sakura with a frown.

"That means you got a lot of experience then." Shino said.

"I guess. But apart from that, I've been collecting information about the exam in these." He took a thick deck of seemingly blank cards. Naruto listened as the taller boy explained the average number of ninjas of each village that took the exam. He was rather impressed when he informed that he also had information about the participants on the exam. Sasuke seemed interested at that and asked Kabuto if he could show Rock Lee's stats. The blond furrowed his eyebrows. By the look of those cards, Kabuto must have had put all his effort in gathering the information. Maybe that's why he failed the exam all those times. Why would someone be more interested in knowing everyone's skills than passing the chuunin exam? He glanced at the bug user. Shino seemed to be analyzing the four eye fellow too.

The whiskered kid was torn apart from his suspicions when a vague but steady wave of killing intent reached him. His blue eyes looked around, trying to locate the source of the feeling. His eyes fell on an auburn haired kid with a tattoo in his forehead and a gourd at his feet, sitting on the last table with his arms crossed. Naruto assumed that he girl and boy standing beside him were his teammates. The blond could make heavy black rings around the boy's bright green. The red haired kid was staring at him with coldly for some unknown reason. Kyuubi let out a dark chuckle in the back of his mind but said nothing. Naruto returned the stare and immediately the wave of killing intent increased, making the genins around back away. _'What is with that guy?' _The kid's teammates shot worrying glances at each other.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata called somewhat worried. She had walked away from the group towards him, seeing him narrowing his eyes darkly.

"Hmm?" Naruto responded, tearing his eyes from the glaring boy to the girl.

"I-Is something wrong?" she asked, looking the way Naruto had been, and spotting the weird kid who was looking at the blond's direction.

"No, just some weirdo that caught my attention." Said the boy dismissively, but his face was serious, as the kid didn't seem to take his eyes off him.

"Oh." Hinata said. The kept quiet, and heard the Kabuto kid saying something about the sound village. She seemed to hesitate for a bit and then spoke.

"N-Naruto-kun I-I really sorry f-for making you m-mad." She said in rushed words, looking away from the whiskered kid. Her word drifted all his concern from the freak emanating killing intent to the apologizing girl.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, not recalling a time when she had made him mad.

"E-earlier, a-about your clothes." She said. "I-I said it out loud a-and you didn't like i-it when everyone started talking a-about them." Hinata shut her eyes tightly, expecting Naruto to shout at her angrily as he did with the rest.

"Oh that." Said Naruto. "Don't worry, they were bound to notice someday. At least you didn't make a fuss about it." Hinata breathed again but then something made her head jump in alert. She turned her head to the massive number of chuunin hopefuls and her eyes caught a white blur zigzagging around the groups, and it appeared that was directing their way.

A bandaged figure was about to leapt forward towards its target but was rudely intercepted by a blond that seemed to appear in front of him out of nowhere, making him stop dead in his tracks.

"Why is it that nobody can wait till the exam begins and has to launch themselves looking for a fight?" the blond said in an exasperating tone, looking at the shinobi with a great mass of grayish hair bending in front of him. The genin looked upwards at the blond with his only visible eye as the rest of his face was covered in bandages and immediately threw an uppercut aimed at the blond's shin. Naruto threw himself backwards, evading his metal covered arm, resting his palms on the ground and using the momentum to threw both his feet at the boy which connected hard with his chest. The shinobi was sent backwards and smashed against a table that had been previously occupied by genins. Everyone stared. Most of the genins hadn't seen any of them move.

The attacker rose slowly to its feet. He tried to dissimulate the pain in his chest and smiled at the blond. Naruto narrowed his eyes. His vision got blurred and he started to feel shaken and dizzy. _'Shit.' _He thought, trying to get his eyes to focus. _'Must have been that thing in his arm.' _Naruto now heard a high pith sound inside his head and started to sweat. He stumbled for a moment, it felt as if someone had pushed him from behind, trying to make him fall. _'All right, calm down.' _Except for the ringing in his ears he had felt like this before fighting a clone. His counterpart had missed a hit at his face but instead hit him in the ear, making him almost pass out. Naruto closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to make the dizzy feeling and the overwhelming sense of throwing up disappear. Sakura and the others approached him slowly, seeing that something was wrong with him.

"You alright?" The pink haired girl asked. Naruto didn't respond immediately, instead, he took a couple more breaths and started to steady himself.

"Yeah." He said. "That freak did something…"

"What the hell, Dosu? Letting yourself get hit by a brat!" A girl with long, dark hair came towards him with another boy also wearing the sound hitai-ite.

"I was caught off guard." Dosu replied, eyeing the blond expectantly.

"It seems that you aren't as strong as you think." Sneered his other teammate. Dosu glared at him.

"Why did you do that?" Ino demanded angrily. The sound trio turned to her.

"Just wanted to show that four eye there what the sound village could do, after all he seemed convinced that sound ninjas were as unimportant as its ninjas." Dosu said, hunching over.

"But don't get the wrong idea." Dosus's partner, a tall, short haired boy said. "We aren't as weak as he is, well, at least I'm not." This time, Dosu and the girl glared at him. The black haired sound shinobi just smirked at them.

"I'll be delighted to see how strong you really are." Said Naruto menacingly, taking a step forward but was stop by a bunch of hands around him.

"_When_ the exam requires it." Sakura added, sending a glare at Naruto, who shrugged and looked away, but the movement made his head feel all giddy again. The attention shifted from the end of the room to the front of it, as a big puff of smoke spread in front of the large black board.

"Quit it!"a harsh voice was heard through the spacious room. The smoke cleared and thirty or forty chuunins had appeared. In between them, a tall man with a black overcoat said. "Settle down, all of you!" Silent fell over the room, many of the chuunin hopefuls were gaping at the man's heavily scarred face.

"I'm Morino Ibiki." He continued, his black eyes running along every face in front of him. "Examiner of the first test in the chuunin exam and you!" he snapped, making some genins jump. "Are not supposed to fight unless given permission by the examiners."

"I apologize." Dosu croaked, turning away from the rookies. Ibiki nodded and stepped away, allowing seven chuunins show a thick stack of white plastic papers with black numbers printed on them. A chuunin with black hair and shades was shuffling the stack of papers in his hands.

"You will take a tag with a number in it, which will indicate where you are to sit." The chuunin showed the genins a thick stack of white piece of plastic with black numbers printed in them. "Then we can start the exam." The whole place was suddenly filled with movement, as the genins made their way to the front to take a number. Kiba and Sasuke started to make their way towards the closest line of genins waiting to get their number, followed by the rest of the rookie nine, well except for Naruto.

"What's the matter?" Chouji asked, turning to the blond that was rooted in place, looking at something in the front.

"Do you think," Naruto started, seeming a bit pale. "That the first test could be a w-written test?" Everyone turned to look where the blond's blue eyes were fixed. A black spiky haired chuunin with bandages crossing the bridge of his nose was holding a big pile of exam sheets.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

**- Patty**


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**It's been long, I know. But I'm in my last school year and I'm studying like never before… but don't worry, the chapters will keep coming. Also, I'll change the story rating to M. Why? Because of the language and future scenarios. I've always imagined Naruto characters using a strong language, I mean, their lives are really screwed up and it just gets worst in the ninja world. **

**You've been warned!**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 20

It was no secret that Uzumaki Naruto didn't do well in written tests. The Kyuubi container had a tendency to fail anything that asked for a definition or a process. In the academy days, the only questions Naruto bothered to answer were the multiple choice ones, where there was a twenty-five percent chance he might chose (guess) the correct answer. Anything else that required written answers, the whiskered genin would ignore it and take a nap while he waited for the other students to finish. Thankfully the Academy insisted more on the practical part of the students.

But the first test of the Chuunin exam was a whole different story, or so he thought. He was sitting in place number 53 with Hinata at his side, but he barely noticed her presence, given that his attention was centered in the back of the paper sheet that was right in front of him. Hands gripping his head, Naruto was dreading what might be written in the paper in front of him. All the training he had done didn't help much in here. He had been so sure he wouldn't be seeing any more of these again the day he graduated. _'I hope it's not trigonometry.' _The pre-teen was thinking in his place, sitting at the very edge of his chair. _'But that would be better than physics all the way.'_ The blond had been so uneasy that he didn't hear the rules Ibiki was explaining. The only thing Naruto picked up from the scarred jounin was: "You have one hour." And, "Start."

Naruto, along with every genin in the room, turned the page over. His eyes trailed the questions. He read the first question, and, deciding that deciphering codes wasn't really his forte, continued with the second question. His brow furrowed as he read it one more time, muttering softly to himself.

"Dude throwing a shuriken from tree of seven meters of height… maximum distance… something about a parabola… ellipse… again maximum distanc-" _'Why the hell would I care about all that?' _Naruto thought. He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his blond hair in frustration. _'Kami I hate physics.' _When his eyes opened again, they fell on the rules written on the blackboard. _'Huh?' _He thought, confused, once he read the instructions. He read them once more. _'I knew it.' _ a wave of relieve washed over him. _'I knew there had to be another trick hidden in this.' _He looked around discreetly and could spot two Konoha and a grass genins trying to glance at the paper from the person next to them. Apparently the chuunin examiners also noticed this and wrote something on their clipboards. Naruto smiled widely and laughed at his own stupidity, earning a curious look from Hinata and other genins near him.

"You aren't supposed to emit any noise at all, didn't you hear?" Ibiki warned, piercing him with his dark, small eyes. Naruto grinned.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "It's just the nerves." The blond could hear Sasuke groaning on the back, slapping his hand on his forehead, and a pair of eyes burning a hole on the back of his neck. The tall jounin grunted and nodded to him to continue on his paper.

After twenty minutes, Naruto's suspicions had been confirmed. Approximately twenty teams had been expelled from the test. Some left obediently while some others tried to defy the chuunin examiners' judgments, but were forced out easily by the supervisors. If this exam was about testing your information gathering abilities, he would have to pass the exam by copying methods, but the problem was the last question. If it was yet another scheme to examine your ninja abilities, then the written exam wouldn't have any importance at all on the final results. He seriously hoped that. But if it wasn't, then he was screwed. Naruto meditated for a moment before deciding to bet everything on his first supposition.

Turning down Hinata's copying chance, (Not that he didn't want to. He would have liked to have at least one question done to feel safer about the exam, but three examiners had turned their vigilant eyes to them the instant Hinata whispered at him.) the blond found himself with thirty minutes of nothing to do but wait until the sadistic-looking jounin gave the tenth question so he decided to rest his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto opened his eyes when he heard something hitting the front of his desk, followed by a soft gasp from Hinata. The blond looked around to a considerably less crowded room where the remaining participants were looking at him, some with mild curiosity, others with incredulous faces and some others, like Sasuke and Sakura, with death glares. He turned to a kunai that had been incrusted just a few inches above where his head had been and stare at it indifferently for a moment.

"That was uncalled for."The whiskered kid said with a yawn.

"You were called three times." Ibiki responded coldly.

"Oh." Was all the blond said before he became silent. The scarred man narrowed his eyes in an annoying gesture before turning to the genins in the place.

"Now that I have the attention of _all_ of you," He glanced angrily at the stretching blond. "It's time for the tenth question." There was a collective gulp of the chuunin hopefuls around the room. Naruto felt Hinata tense up and he couldn't blame her. That final decided whether he passed or failed.

"But first…" Ibiki began. "You need to decide whether to take it or not." A round of whispers extended among the genins.

"What happens if someone chooses not to take it?" a blond girl with four pig tails asked as she raised her hand.

"Then your points get reduced to zero and you fail along with your teammates." Incredulous comments were heard around the room.

"Only an idiot wouldn't take the question." one leaf genin said.

"But there's another rule." Ibiki said his smile widening at what was about to come. The genins became quiet again. "If you chose to take the final question and get it wrong, you will not only fail, but also you won't get another chance to take the chuunin exam while you live." The genins paralyzed for about one whole minute before they erupted in outraged shouts.

"What's the matter with you, dude? You can't do that! There's people here that have taken the exam before! " Kiba yelled.

"Actually I can." Ibiki replied. "But if you reject to take the question you are free to apply for any future chuunin exam, so what's it gonna be?" The first person shot his arm up to announce he was giving up. In a minute, there were groups of genins leaving through the double doors.

Sakura was doing a mental struggle on whether or not to raise her hand. She didn't want to make Sasuke and Naruto fail the first test, but that was better than them staying as genins for the rest of their lives. She switched her eyes from her hands towards Sasuke, a few chairs left from her. The pink haired girl found herself being the target of the Uchiha's onyx eyes. He made a slight nod. It seemed like the raven haired Uchiha had been waiting for her to look his way. Sakura kept staring at him until she finally understood. _'We'll make this together, then.' _She resolved.

'_Don't panic Hinata.' _The raven haired girl thought to herself, trying to calm down. _'You'll get through this. You mustn't give up.' _At that last though, she turned her head to the left to see how was Naruto dealing with the situation. The blond had his head facing the ceiling, a big grin pasted on his whiskered face. It was like he was thanking someone up there for the terrible situation. Hinata wondered if he heard correctly. Naruto lowered his head and looked to the front, but the smile still hadn't vanished, and it was still there when there were no more genins raising their hands or standing up to go. The Hyuuga girl channeled the worries she had been focusing on the tenth question to the blond. Hinata was about to ask him if he was okay when the scary looking ninja on the front spoke again.

"Remember, this decision will define your future." Ibiki said, looking at the genins that had decided to stay.

"Would you just ask the stupid question?" Naruto spoke from his place. "I think everyone here has made their minds up. Just get this over with." The jounin glared at him coldly before speaking.

"You seem very calm, even cheerful, for a kid who can lose everything in the next few moments. How are you so sure you will pass the question?" Ibiki taunted with a smirk on his face. Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"Actually I'm as unsure as hell. I just see a challenge here, and I'm not a person that would run away from a challenge you know? Maybe I get the question wrong and stay a genin forever, but even in that case I will become the greatest ninja to live and you won't have any other choice but to make a rule where a genin can be Hokage." The blond said confidently. Lee needed to suppress the urge to jump on his desk and shout 'HORRAY.' at the top of his lungs. Some genins snorted at his words, but they couldn't help to feel encouraged at what he said. Ibiki gave the blond a measuring look. Then he smiled.

"Fine, then." He said, shoving his hands on the pockets of his dark cloak. "By the looks of it there won't be anymore of you quitting so I'll just say this…" The genins leaned forward to hear clearly what he was going to say.

"You pass." The room was silent for like five minutes. Then Naruto spoke.

"Surprise, surprise." He said happily, balancing on his chair.

"Y-You… You knew a-already, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked him, leaning closer. Naruto gave a cheesy grin.

"I didn't _knew._" He said. His face then became serious, launched forward so that his chair was again steady on the ground and leaned towards her, making their faces be a short distance from each other.

"It was like a hunch actually." The blond continued, ignoring her furious blush. "I mean, this all seemed very tricky, you know?" Hinata nodded dumbly, staring at his blue eyes.

"Thank Kami I was right. If it would've been a normal exam, well…" he trailed off, flashing his empty answer sheet so that she could see it. "To be honest, I was scared as hell, but don't tell anyone." He winked at her and turned to the front where Ibiki had finished talking and the genins around were cheering. Hinata felt how her heart skipped a beat. She returned to reality by a loud noise, then an equally loud voice.

"Save your cheers for later!" A woman said. The genins fell completely quiet. She had purple hair dressed up in a single bum and was wearing a transparent fishnet for a shirt that didn't cover much, thankfully she was wearing a beige coat on. "I'm Mitarashi Anko, second chief examiner. There's another test to come, so start worrying!" she ordered. Everyone stared at her for a moment, even the chuunin examiners.

"As obnoxious as ever." Ibiki said calmly, taking a step to the side so that the black banner Anko brought with her so that he could regain visual contact with the chuunin hopefuls.

"Can you show at least a bit of excitement? These exams are great, and I enjoy every minute of them." Anko replied with a grin that wasn't so different from Naruto's.

"26 teams?" she said after eyeing the still staring kids. "You're getting too soft, Ibiki." The scarred man laughed.

"It seems this time we have a lot of promising contestants." He commented. Anko's grin grew wider.

"That's good." She nodded. "I'll see what they have to offer and there's nothing better for me to see their skills than the forest of death. The tigers have reached adulthood now, did you know? Five months ago they were just kittens compared to the size they have right now …" She started giving rapid updates about her precious forest. Ibiki rolled his eyes.

"… I just wish they could get bigger. Maybe if I ask the Hokage for permission to feed them growing hormones… Oh! You should see the new snake species, its poison is jus-"

"Al right, listen!" Ibiki cut her off, turning to the genins. "The second test will be tomorrow at 12 o'clock exactly. Your jounin instructors have been already informed about the location so you can go and ask them. You're free to go." He concluded. The genins looked suspiciously around, making sure these wasn't another test and slowly stood up and walked out the door. Ibiki noticed the killer intent that was coming from the female jounin.

"What?" asked Ibiki calmly, not looking at Anko but instead at the nine rookies that had gathered and were starting to speak heatedly among them.

"I was supposed to say that!" she exclaimed angrily. The jounin turned to her with a smirk.

"You were supposed to say that, yes. But instead you started talking about tigers. It's your own fault you trailed off your duty." Anko opened her mouth but closed it immediately, finding nothing to say. She just turned her back to him and stalked away, muttering death threats under her breath.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Laughing out loud and sleeping in the middle of the test. Can't you take anything seriously?" Sakura said angrily. "We could have been expelled from the exam." Team seven, eight and ten were walking outside the building, along with the other genins that had just passed the first chuunin exam.

"Could you stop complaining? No one's ever been expelled from anything just a laugh or a minute or two of sleeping." Naruto replied, with his hands behind his neck.

"You slept for thirty minutes."The pink haired girl said.

"Whatever." Said the blond. Sakura and Sasuke glared at him.

"If you do something stupid again in the following exam, I'll kick your ass." The Uchiha warned.

"I'll like to see you try." The blond smirked. Sasuke narrowed his eyes before looking away.

"The only thing that matters is that we passed. You should be worrying about what's coming next." Shikamaru said, gazing at the sky. Chouji and Hinata nodded.

"I just hope it isn't another written test." Naruto muttered.

"Maybe a fighting challenge, so that we could kick some asses." Kiba yelled, scratching Akamaru's head. The genins started speculating about what could possibly be the next test about when Kabuto appeared ahead.

"I'm glad that you all passed." The glass-wearing genin said. "To be honest I didn't think any of you

would, but I guess I was completely wrong." He laughed. "I hope you all do well on the second exam."

"Thank you Kabuto-san, we wish you the same thing." Sakura said politely. Kabuto nodded and waved good bye.

"He's weird." Ino commented, watching him go.

"Not only that but he smells weird." Kiba said. Everyone turned to him with questioning looks. "He smells like snake."

"Maybe he likes snakes and has one for a pet." The Haruno offered.

"I think he's nice." Chouji said, opening a new package of chips. Sakura and Hinata agreed. "He wanted to help us and all."

"He seems really suspicious." Shino said mysteriously.

"We should take care from anyone that approaches us, even if they are from our same village." Shikamaru said. "Remember we are the rookies here and everyone is gonna try to come for us."

"Perhaps we should help each other on the upcoming tests." The bug user said.

"Are you saying that you don't believe in our team, Shino?!" Kiba demanded, stepping towards Shino.

"I was just implying that we'll have a greater chance of survival if we worked together." Shino responded impassively.

"You can stick together if you want." Sasuke said. "But we are going to go at our own pace."

"Sasuke-kun, I think we should conside-"

"We can do this by ourselves, Sakura." Interjected the Uchiha. "I'm going to ask Kakashi the location for tomorrow." Sasuke turned around and started walking towards training ground 7.

"The prick is right." Kiba said. "We should be with our sensei. Let's go." He ordered to his two comrades. Hinata looked at Shino for help. The bug user nodded and they both started walking behind their other teammate, Hinata turned to say good bye.

"They do have a point." Ino said. "We are rivals right now. We're not supposed to help each other."

"Let's go with the perv then." Said the blond, nodding to Sakura.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Welcome to training ground number 44, also known as the forest of death." The purple haired jounin greeted happily, extending her arms to regard everyone. The genins were standing in front of Anko, on a large field just outside the tall gates that separated them from the dark-looking forest.

"I have a bad feeling." Shikamaru muttered to his teammates. Chouji nodded and then squeaked when a large snake ate a bird perched on a tree.

"Maybe we should reconsider making an alliance with the others." Ino offered, gazing at an abnormal-sized centipede crawling its way up a tree.

"This'll be the place where the second part of the chuunin exam will take place."

"I'm pretty sure we've already guessed that." Naruto chuckled on the nearest row to his female examiner, just loud enough for Anko to hear.

"Cocky, aren't we?" said Anko with a smile that Naruto returned. Sasuke cursed angrily under his breath. "This exam brings boys like you every year. Do you wanna know something else?"

"Sure, why not?" Just after he had finished his sentence, a kunai came flying in his direction, cutting his left cheek. Gasps were heard among the genins, the loudest being Hinata's.

"Those boys are the ones that get killed first." Anko hissed on his ear and extended her tongue to lick the blood that was starting to drip down the jinchuriki's fresh cut.

"Charming." Naruto grunted, crossing his arms. The purple haired woman raised an eyebrow. _'Not the effect I was looking for…' _She felt a dark presence right behind her. The jounin took another kunai from her inner pocket and readied herself to attack. A long tongue holding a kunai came into view, but as weird that may have been, it was the voice that came next that made a cold chill run up Anko's spine.

"I suppose this is your kunai." The grass genin whispered. The woman turned her head to look at the newcomer's eyes.

"Why, thank you." She said with a smile, rapidly recovering from the initial reaction and taking the kunai from her tongue. _'Ugh.' _Ino, along with other girls, thought. "But I warn you that if you come like that again, I will be forced to kill you." Anko added, her smile becoming dangerous.

"Off course." The long haired girl replied with a slight smirk in her face. The genin backed away coolly. Naruto narrowed his eyes. _'I couldn't even notice her moving. I don't think the examiner did either.' _He wiped the trickle of blood that was running down his cheek.

"I see you're eager to start. Okay then." said Anko, straightening up and taking a stack of papers from her coat.

"These are consent forms." She explained. "And before we begin the second test, you need to sign it."

"Why?" Ino asked.

"Because from this point forward people will die, you see." She said plainly. "So we need your consent to continue. That way we will not be held responsible for your deaths, isn't that great?" she asked sheepishly.

"Terrific." The blond muttered.

"Here, brat. Take one and pass the rest." Anko handed the blond the papers and walked to her original spot to the front.

"Now the exam is basically a survival test." The jounin said as the consent forms were spread, taking a scroll from her pocket and unfolding it in front of the genins. "You'll have to get to the tower, located at the center of the forest, at 10 kilometers from the entrances approximately. As you can see, there are 44 entrance gates located around the circular perimeter of the forests. Each team will be placed in one of these gates and you'll begin at the same time."

"You'll be fighting over these scrolls." She continued as chuunin examiner showed a white and a dark blue scroll. "Each team will be given either a heaven or an earth scroll. Your team's objective is to get to the tower with both scrolls, all of the team members. There are no rules as how you are going to get your hands on another scroll." _'That means half of the teams will surely fail.' _Sakura thought.

"Now that you've know the rules, think carefully about signing that form. There'll be no turning back once you've put your name in it." The genins looked at their consent forms with somber faces.

"What else?" Anko said with a hand over her mouth in thought. "Oh yeah, you only got 5 days to do the program-" Various genins emitted nervous murmurs at this. "- and you are not allowed to look inside the scroll."

"Why not?" Kiba asked.

"Because it is a rule. If you break it you'll be disqualified along with your team, understood?"

"Er, sure." Said the dog ninja.

"We'll begin in fifteen minutes. So once your team has sign the consent forms, bring them to the hut and we'll give you you're scroll." Pens were passed around by the chuunin examiners and the genins dispersed around.

"Did you see the size of that bug?" a genin asked his teammate nervously.

"I heard man-eating beasts live in the forests." Someone behind Naruto whispered.

"There also poisonous plants and animals, my uncle told me-" Comments like these were starting to be heard around the genins. Naruto was waiting for someone to lend him a pen when he saw Shikamaru nodding at him to come, Shino at his side. The blond stood up and went their direction, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to their thoughts.

"My guess is secret alliance." Naruto said as he approached. Shino and Akamaru nodded.

"Is not like we are going to do this test all together…" Shikamaru said.

"As if we could, considering the teme and Kiba." The blond smirked.

"That's right. But we should at least consider something, there are lots of eyes upon us."

"So what do you propose?" Naruto asked, almost as lazily as Shikamaru.

"Assistance only in an extreme situation." Shino stated.

"You mean don't let each other die." The whiskered boy scratched his chin. "Kiba and Sasuke are still a problem."

"We have at least two persons in each team that agrees to assist each other. They can't continue the test if the rest of the team is gone; they'd have to join you even if they don't want to." The pineapple-haired boy explained. Naruto turned to look at his team. Sakura had just signed her consent form and Sasuke was sitting with his arms crossed, looking away from them. The blond was pretty sure he already knew what they were talking about.

"That and the satisfaction they both would feel if they saved someone else's ass." Naruto added. "I don't oppose. The only thing left would be how to know the other team is in danger." Shino immediately extended his palm with two small bugs in it.

"Female kikkai bugs." Shino started in a monotone. "Their scent can be tracked by a male bug miles away. They can also expulse a considerable amount of concentrated substance marked with their scent when pain is inflicted to them and even more when crushed." Shikamaru and Naruto stared at the moving bugs.

"So… we hit them?" Naruto asked unsure.

"I would appreciate if you could just hit them gently and not kill them." Shino said.

"Where will they accommodate?" Shikamaru inquired, giving a distrustful glance at the offending bugs.

"Hopefully not inside our skin." The blond grunted.

"In a place where you can reach them rapidly." Shino said and the bugs flew from his hand to their new houses. Shikamaru's bug housed itself in the creases of his headband cloth, located around his left arm. Naruto's went under his sleeve and into his wrist weights.

"Remember where they are and don't crush them by accident." The Aburame reminded and returned his hand to his pockets. Naruto looked at his right wrist, trying to feel something. Maybe the bug would bite him or something. Feeling nothing abnormal, he said.

"If this is it, I'll go sign my form." The other two nodded and they all parted towards their respective teams.

"Sakura, don't pass that pen yet." The blond said as he reached his two teammates. The pink haired girl handed him the pen.

"I hope you've been smart enough to decline their offer." Sasuke said, looking at him seriously. Sakura looked confuse at the blond.

"Off course I declined." The whiskered genin said lightly while signing his form. "And even if I had accepted, I'm sure I couldn't have convinced you to help them." _'Voluntarily.' _Naruto thought as he wrote his name on the paper.

"I don't even know why you bothered listening to them. They would only hold us down."

"Your right, I mean, who could possibly keep up with you?" Naruto asked in a mocking tone. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes and turned away from him.

"Why don't we prepare a strategy for the test?" Sakura asked.

"There are too many ears around. We'll do that when we are sure no one can listen." Sasuke responded.

"Oh, your right." The pink haired girl responded with embarrassment. _'I should have thought about that. Now Sasuke-kun will think I'm a stupid.' _

"It's almost time to hand the forms!" Anko yelled over the pool of genins. "Get going to the hut."

"Let's go." Sasuke commanded, walking towards the shack.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So here's what we're gonna do." Sasuke spoke. Sakura walked near the Uchiha to listen him better while Naruto barely turned his eyes in his sitting position against the metal network that covered the entire circumference of the forest. Team seven, as well as the rest of the teams, was waiting by their previously selected gate for Anko's signal to start the test. There was a chuunin examiner accompanying each team to open their gate at the signalized moment.

"We know there are other teams that will hunt us because they think we're easy prey, so there's no point in trying to find a target. We'll advance as much as we can until someone attack us. We'll take them down and gather their scroll." Sakura nodded and the dark haired boy continued.

"If in two days we found ourselves without our second scroll, we'll change of strategy. Naruto will use his shadow clones and disperse them. If they find someone, we'll go for them. Do you agree?" Sasuke asked.

"'Course." The blond said lazily. Satisfied, the young genius continued.

"We need a password among us in case we get separated and someone tries to transform into one of us and approach our scroll. I suggest we us the ninja Ninki song, I'm sure you already know it so we'll take the first, third and fifth sentence of the first paragrap-"

"The Ninki song? What are you seven?" Naruto said, cutting him off. "Why don't we make it more simple and we cut the upper part of our hands?" Sasuke's onyx eyes turned to him.

"If someone gets kidnapped, the enemy will have the chance to look at every detail of our appearance, then the cut will not work." The dark eyed boy replied.

"None of us will get kidnapped." Naruto said.

"We don't know that, that's why we must think of every possibility."

"Let's use both then." Sakura suggested. "It'll be more difficult for someone to trick us."

"Fine." Sasuke said at last, taking a kunai from his pouch and making a gentle cut in the back of his hand. Sakura and Naruto followed, the blond making a deeper cut on his for more duration.

"You better take good care of that scroll. I know exactly where I'm going to shove my foot if you lose it." Naruto said nodding at Sasuke's pouch, where the heaven scroll was kept. The Uchiha smirked.

The walkie talkie in the chuunin's belt emitted a loud sqwack, followed by a what was without a doubt the test's supervisor energetic voice.

"Open the gates. The second test starts now." Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto stood up, suddenly feeling very anxious when the dark haired chuunin opened the lock of the door.

"Good luck." Said the dark haired man, feeling sorry for the kids. _'They'll be out in less than five hours.' _Sakura thanked the chuunin while her two partners were already facing the open door.

"Remember we are moving among the low branches. There's no need to suppress chakra." Sasuke said, turning to the two other genins. Naruto leapt to the nearest branch.

"Yeah, yeah we got it; make ourselves easy to detect… let's go already." And with that, he headed off into the forest at a moderated speed.

"Good he's motivated." Sakura said.

"As long as he doesn't make anything stupid and screw us all up." The raven haired Uchiha replied, going in the same direction the blond parted, Sakura following close behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**This one's my longest!**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 21

"There's no scroll on him." Naruto said to his two comrades, as he threw the unconscious rain ninja dismissively on the floor with an empty 'thud'. Sasuke glared at the blond.

"We were supposed to wait till he attacked." Sakura reprimanded, frowning at the whiskered genin.

"He had been following us for twenty minutes and I got tired of waiting." Naruto responded with his hands in his pockets, turning the ninja face up with a not so gentle kick, making visible the bloody face and cracked mouth apparatus.

"It would have been inconvenient if his team might have been with him." The Uchiha said neutrally, but his eyes showed he was clearly irritated.

"Well, they weren't. I made sure of it." The blond replied, kneeling down to look at the fallen genin closer.

"What are we going to do with him?" Sakura asked, glancing the ninja.

"We leave him here and keep moving." The Uchiha said in a decisive tone, turning to go.

"We can't do that! He could get eaten or something." The pink haired girl said.

"Then what do you want us to do? We can't stay with him and wait for his team to-" a moan was emitted by the rain genin, who was beginning to open his eyes.

"Where the hell…" the disorientated brunette muttered. He looked at team seven. Then his eyes widened and he quickly leapt backwards, away from the three genins. Sakura and Sasuke fell into their fighting stances.

"You!" he exclaimed angrily, pointing at Naruto. "You were the one who punched me!"

"Well, you were the one who was stalking us." The blond said lazily. The ninja glared at the blond.

"You will pay for this!" He threatened as he retreated rapidly through the woods. Team seven watched him disappear behind a tree.

"That solves our problem." Naruto commented, turning to his teammates. The dark haired Uchiha looked at him repressively.

"Next time you consult with us before deciding to launch unexpectedly at any enemy." He said. Naruto didn't respond and instead, he looked away from him, making the Uchiha angry.

"Listen moron! We can't have doing as you wish. We need you to cooperate with us so we can pas-" Sasuke stopped short in the middle of his words, as the air started to blew hard on them.

"It's an attack!" Naruto exclaimed, as the air started getting so thick he could feel it hitting his body with great pressure. The blowing wind was getting more violent by the moment. Team seven started to be pushed backwards.

"Quick! Get out of its way!" The Uchiha yelled over the now roaring air current, but the only way it seemed they could go was the direction the wind was taking them. If they try to jump now, the force will blew them away easily. Sakura continued to slide on the ground, being overpowered by the wind blast.

"Damn." Naruto felt himself saying but the wind carried his words away. He was trying to stick himself to the ground with chakra did little to maintain him in place against the powerful attack. . He looked at his comrades. They too had used chakra to stick to the ground but it seemed useless. _'The attack is been working for a while now and it does not seems to recede.' _His feet were skipping the ground slowly. _'Time for a new tactic.' _Naruto put his hands together in front of him, fingers pointing in the opposite direction of the wind. He sent a big amount of chakra through his fingers, but as soon as the chakra appeared it was engulfed and taken away by the strong wind.

'_Shit!' _he cursed mentally. Sasuke was now three feet away from him than he was a second earlier, Sakura being behind him with her arms in front of her face, being that the wind had been cutting their clothes and had started to cut their flesh. He closed his eyes and focus chakra again in his fingers, this time a much greater quantity. It was the first time Naruto was going to spend much chakra in an attack. _'Cut through it!' _he thought before his chakra surged from his fingers. The chakra countered the great pressure, making Naruto's arms shot upwards, the rest of his prepared chakra following and effectively disrupting the wind's curse.

Sound returned. Naruto heard Sakura and Sasuke's grunts after hitting the ground. The stream of air once hitting them with crushing force was now a gentle breeze that slowly died away.

"What was that?" Sakura asked, once she recovered her breath and stood up.

"There's time for questions later." Sasuke said, looking around anxiously. "Right now someone just attacked us and they might do it again."

"It's just one." Naruto turned towards a tree, eyes narrowed. "And she is right there." Sakura and Sasuke craned their necks to see the person standing on one of the many enormous branches the forest possessed. Team seven took their stances when the grass ninja stood up and jumped off the branch, landing gently on the ground.

"That was quite a technique you pulled. Was it your first try with shape manipulation?"" The long, dark haired woman complimented, her mouth twisting upwards in a smile. Naruto didn't respond. _'She's the one from earlier.' _The blond thought to himself, remembering how he didn't notice her coming from behind.

"It seemed to be." She continued. Team seven stood in their places, not moving a muscle. Something about this person made them feel very anxious.

"It's a shame my jutsu couldn't separate you." The grass ninja commented. "That way I could finish you faster. Oh, well." She put her hand inside her pouch and produced an earth scroll, attracting Sasuke's attention to it.

"Hmmm, so you want my scroll." She purred, her black eyes fixed on the Uchiha. A long, pink tongue came out of her mouth and licked her lips. "Let's fight for it, then. Me against the three of you." She raised her hand holding the scroll in front of her face. Her mouth opened too wide to be normal and she started pushing the dark blue scroll into her mouth and down her throat. She turned her head in the middle of the process for the kids to take a better look. The three genins look with disgusted faces as the shape of the scroll crept down the woman's trachea. _'What is wrong with her?' _Sakura wondered as the ninja gulped, signalizing that the scroll was now inside her stomach.

"Are you ready?" the woman asked. Sasuke and Sakura got out of their trance and took out a kunai. Naruto stood still, expecting the enemy to attack first. "Let's begin then." Team seven expected their new enemy to launch at them, or make hand seals to perform another wind jutsu; but instead the dark eyed woman took her right hand to her face and pulled the skin around her right eye. A green, slitted pupil was in the place where the woman's dark eye was supposed to be, but before the genins could even react, something even more powerful than the earlier wind attack hit them.

'_What?' _Naruto thought confused. In a second, a tremendous chill had run up and down and up again in his spine. Somehow, he had just seen a preview of his own death by action of a kunai. _'That was… What was that?' _He looked at his comrades to see if they had felt it too, but it turned out that he needed to do a lot of effort to move his neck. _'What is this?' _He asked himself, even more confused now. The fox stirred in his mind.

"**Kanashibari no jutsu*." **Kyubi said. Naruto was too concerned with his body to see that the fox had a wicked grin in his face. **"It concentrates killer intent to apply fear into an enemy. Those who are too weak are completely paralyzed. Like your petty friends..." **Naruto glanced at Sasuke and Sakura from the corner of his eyes. The poor girl was crying with an empty look in her eyes, it seemed that she had forgotten how to breathe, while Sasuke had just returned what he ate earlier in the day.

"…**Like you." **The fox added with a malicious smirk.

"Shut it." Naruto said through gritted teeth. The enemy was taking three kunai from her pouch when her attention was drawn to the blond. She cocked an eyebrow.

"Just caught off guard-" Naruto took a step to the front with visible effort. Sasuke seemed to be struggling too. _'I'm stronger than this.'_ "Gah!" His mind started rejecting the paralysis. _'Snap out of it!'_ He shook his head brusquely until he felt all his senses and movements returned to normal.

"There." He said, laughing. A trickle of sweat got into his eye but he didn't mind it. Sasuke looked at him while still in his own shock. The rain ninja turned to him.

"Congratulations, your sheer will annulled a jounin-level jutsu." She said. Naruto stopped laughing, when he heard Sasuke growl. The Uchiha had just stabbed himself on the right leg with his own knife; this seemed to clear away the effect of the paralysis too. Naruto exchanged a look with Sasuke, who had now activated his sharingan and went quickly towards Sakura to help her to her knees. Naruto turned to the enemy.

"Let me show you a jounin-level jutsu of my own." He crossed his fingers. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten Narutos appeared out of nowhere after the smoke cleared. The woman, again, rose her eyebrow. The clones launched at the enemy, while the real one helped Sasuke to lift Sakura and fled the scene.

"Clever." She said out loud, performing a series of hand signs and bursting flames from her mouth and her hands, dispelling all the shadow clones. "This is getting fun."

"She can also use fire jutsus." Naruto informed as soon as the memories of all his ten clones reached him. Sakura was just getting out of her stupor.

"Shhh." Sasuke urged, his hands trembling slightly. "She might hear us."

"She already knows where we are." Naruto said, standing up, and looking around. "If she doesn't find us by the blood trails, she will by your fear." The raven haired boy glared at the blond.

"It's too obvious for even you to hide it." The blond said. _'When did his sharingan changed?' _Naruto wondered at the sight of two commas plastered in each red pupil of the Uchiha. A gasp came from Sakura, letting them know she had use of her mind again.

"What was that?" She asked, her cheeks shiny by her recent tears. Sasuke was about to tell her to not worry about that now, but the pink haired girl was distracted by another thing. "Sasuke-kun! Your leg." She exclaimed.

"Yeah, Sasuke thought it was a good idea to stab himself in the leg. That's a perfect strategy when you want to run away, you know?" Naruto said only half interested in the conversation; he was thinking how they will confront the rain ninja. Sasuke didn't respond, he was still comparing their ways of snapping out of the jutsu. He felt a warm feeling in his leg.

"What are you…" He trailed off, feeling the pain flowing away. Sakura had her hands over his wound, a green glow over her. Naruto was also staring. After a few seconds, the pain was completely gone.

"I've just close up the wound." Sakura said, examining the reddened skin of the Uchiha. The boys also glanced at it. "Luckily it wasn't too deep, and there wasn't nerve damage. It is closed up now, you might feel a bit of discomfort, but you can move as normal."

"When did you learn that?" Sasuke asked, standing up and flexing his leg.

"I found some books in the library. After reading them, I decided to give it a try and I've been practicing for some time now." The pink haired girl explained. "I thought I could help the team by learning this."

"Well you certainly have." Sasuke said looking at Sakura in the eyes before turning away. If the girl wasn't so affected by the witnessing-your-own-dead jutsu, she would have blushed.

"Something's coming." Naruto said, looking at some thick bushes.

"Is she again?" Sakura asked anxiously. Naruto shook his head.

"It's bigger." Sasuke responded, taking some shuriken from his back pouch. A slithering noise was accompanied by the crackling of dry leaves, what followed, none of team seven's young members were expecting. A forty feet tall snake, maybe more given that its body was curled around itself, hurled at the genins. Team seven immediately jumped away in different directions from the snake, as its long, white fangs grew closer. The abnormally big reptile chose to go after Sasuke, enlarging its jaw even more. For some reason, the vision of the snake's eyes made the Uchiha's gut boil with extreme uneasiness. He screamed in fear, something he haven't done in a very long time, taking all the shuriken and kunai he could get with his fingers and throwing them with as much force as he could at the snake's head.

All of Sasuke's weapons hit the snake, along with some of Naruto and Sakura's, penetrating in its slimy skin and yellow eyes. The animal let out a screech of pain and wavered for a moment, before collapsing on the ground where it laid immobile.

"Shitty luck we're having, eh?" Naruto said, landing on the broad snake's body, with his hands in his waist as he analyzed the large specimen.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked as she approached Sasuke. The boy was panting heavily and soaked in cold sweat. The Uchiha nodded, taking deep breaths and trying to make them as discrete as he could, but something caught his eye that make him more nervous that he already was.

"Naruto get off of it!" The Uchiha yelled, his sharingan eyes fixed in something coming from the snake's insides. Naruto turned to the point the raven haired boy was looking and had to gasp. The head from the ninja that had attacked them just a moment ago was protruding from the dead animal.

"Our fight hasn't finished yet." The woman said, covered in slime, her long tongue grotesquely wavering in front of her. Sasuke and Sakura took a step back, as did the blond.

"What kind of freak are you?!" he said, recovering first of the tree and aiming a punch at her face. The black haired grass ninja did nothing to block it and just received flat on her face. Naruto felt her jaw move out of place, but then it moved to its proper place back again. The blond's eyes opened in surprise.

"You've got a strong hit." The ninja said, then launched kick at the blond's head. Luckily, the blond blocked it with his forearms. "And you're fast, but not enough for this." She twisted around and with the back of her hand smacked the blond in the face. The blond only had time to widen his eyes before he was sent flying against the trunk of a very wide tree, hitting it with his back.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed. The grass ninja's eyes directed to the remaining team members.

"Now is your turn." The long haired woman's body started to elongate, coiling around the branch that directed to the boy and girl's position rapidly. Sakura took a step backwards but the Uchiha stood still in his place, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, looking with a terrified expression at the approaching figure. The pink haired girl yelled at him. She took his arm and pulled, trying to make him jump out of the way, but she only got him to take a step back; the curling form of the grass ninja stopped her strange way of advancing and jump at the two genins. Sakura closed her eyes and screamed.

"Eat this you creep!" The pink haired girl heard the blond yell, then a crashing sound. She opened her eyes to see a heavily bruised Naruto on the right part of the face standing in the branch in front of her, where the ninja freak was supposed to be. Sakura looked to the left, where big whole had been made in bark of a tree, lying in the debris was the form of the grass ninja.

"I never thought the great Uchiha Sasuke would stand still, shitting his pants, waiting for the strike to come." Naruto said, but not in his usual mocking tone; this one was serious and angry. Sasuke stared at his feet and didn't respond, making the blond angrier.

"We're in the middle of a fucking fig-" Naruto pivoted in his place, and extended a hand, grabbing an average-sized snake that came flying at him. The animal squirmed in his hand.

"I'm fucking tired of your snakes!" The blond yelled towards the tree the grass ninja had crashed and throwing the snake back. Something was wrong, there wasn't chakra signals coming from that direction. _'From above!' _The blond moved just in time. The dark haired woman had come from above, bullet-like, smashing against the thick branch Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were standing and destroying it completely. The blond landed sideways from a tree, sticking to it with chakra. Having been standing just a few feet away from the crash, Sakura and Sasuke lost their balance as the branch disappeared, but managed to leap towards another source of support. Naruto looked down, where the ninja was supposed to be but knew she was hiding somewhere else by now.

"Your speed has increased considerably." The woman said from her hiding site. The whiskered kid turned left, where the voice was coming from and jumped to the nearest branch.

"Fast enough for you now?" Naruto said, taking two kunai and throwing them towards the bushes to his left.

"Perhaps." Two simultaneous 'thuds' were heard, as the knifes hit the trunk behind the bushes. _'I was sure she-' _ Naruto had to stop thinking, as he turned rapidly and grabbed the woman's punch.

"You're one strong kid." The dark eyed ninja said with a smile. Naruto sent a kick to her ribs, but she used her right leg to block it. "I'll kill you first." She made various hand signs with her left hand and, before the blond had time to step back, dark-brown mud was shot from her mouth with incredible force, hitting the blond directly in his chest; sending him flying backwards until he hit the trunk (for the second time).

"Fire and earth jutsus? How the hell you do that?" Naruto asked in an annoyed tone, as he struggled to take the mud off, but it had solidified in an instant.

"You won't live to know." The grass ninja launched forward, kunai in hand aiming at the blond's exposed neck. _'Shit!' _The blond thought, striving to get free. Six shuriken were directed her way; she had to halt in order not to get pierce by the sharp weapons.

Sasuke and Sakura landed in front of the ninja. Sakura took a step towards the blond, eying the grass shinobi nervously in case she was suddenly going to attack her, but the female ninja didn't seem to mind as she was looking at the Uchiha expectantly so the pink haired kunoichi went to help the whiskered boy.

"Don't worry Naruto I'll help you out of here." Sakura said, kneeling besides a confused Naruto, and taking out a kunai. Sakura started to press her kunai into the solidified mud and fracturing it, being careful not to stab Naruto accidentally in the process, repeating it every time she successfully managed to cause a deep fissure on the surface.

"Good." The blond said, as he smiled. "I knew you wouldn't stay stoned forever. Take me out of here and we will kick her as-"

"Quiet Naruto!" Sasuke ordered, not looking at him, his onyx eyes fixed in the female shinobi. Naruto's smiled dissipated and his eyebrows furrowed.

"What?"

"Listen." Sasuke begun at the foreign ninja. "I'll give you what you want." The boy took the heaven scroll from his pouch and held it in front of him. "And you'll live us alone." He threw the scroll over the female ninja. Naruto was too shocked by Sasuke's words to say anything and Sakura stopped scraping. _'What's with Sasuke-kun?' _

"Interesting." The dark haired genin said, a crooked smile on her lips. She had now the scroll in her hand. "You're survival instinct overpass your pride." Sasuke flinched at her words, but maintained a straight face.

"You got our scroll." Sasuke continued, feeling his male teammate's eyes boring in the back of his head. _'It's the smartest move.' _He told himself. "Now go away." Instead of getting away, the grass ninja chortled.

"I'm afraid your wrong, Sasuke-kun." The female ninja purred. Suddenly, the white scroll began to burn with purple flames. Sakura watch at it in shock. The Uchiha couldn't believe she was just burning it. "_This _is not what I want." Her features began to change. Her fangs became sharper, becoming visible over her lips, and she had now a twisted grin, making her face more grotesque than ever. For a moment, her neck seemed to have elongated, but it stopped as the grass monster turn around. A Naruto clone was coming at her at high speed.

"What a nuisance you are." She grunted. The clone flung a punch at her face and the grass ninja caught it tightly with her hand, much like the real Naruto had done earlier with her. Before the kage bunshin could do another move, the long haired female connected a punch directly to it's face. She let go of his hand, expecting the clone to disappear with her punch. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders tightly. _'What?!' _The Naruto bunshin was still there, as solid and real as ever. _'So young and he can already make durable kage bunshins.' _ She thought, taken aback, as the bunshin rammed its knee in her gut. The air was knocked out of her lungs but she recovered rapidly. Straightening quickly, she grabbed the head of the bunshin with both hands, and pressed, the face of the clone contracting into a wince until it puffed out of existence.

"You sure are a talented boy." The female kunoichi said, her calm tone of voice changed into a tense one, as if she was annoyed. She turned again to face her preys. "To maintain a shadow clone hidden all this time without me not-" Before she could finish her sentence, Naruto came at her as fast as his body let him with the chakra weights annulled, and dig his fist in the freak's face. Naruto wanted to take advantage of his opponent's surprise, so he retreated his hand immediately and ducked, permitting him send a kick at the girl's already beaten gut and send her flying into the air.

"I'm not done yet!" He screamed, jumping and reaching the beaten ninja. He raised his hands and joined them tightly. _'This kid is impressing.' _The grass kunoichi thought as the blond thrust his double fist into her face. The blow was thrown so hard that the female ninja went through the thick branch they all had been standing previously and continued to fall into the canopy. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto heard the breaking branches as the ninja passed through them. The blond turned abruptly towards his two teammates. Sakura watched him in awe and also did Sasuke.

"You think you're superior than any of us." The blond said in a neutral tone, but the Uchiha can see his eyes full of anger and… disappointment? "You're always so confident in your abilities." Sasuke lowered his eyes, not being able to look at his teammate in the eye. "But in real battle, when you are really needed to fight for your life, you turn into a fucking-."

"Coward." Sakura finished. Sasuke turned his eyes to look at her in disbelief. The pink haired girl had tears adorning the sides of her pupils. Sasuke never thought that Sakura was capable of pronouncing a word against him. But it appeared she did. And with good reason. _'I'm a coward.' _The boy finally admitted. Sasuke looked at his feet. _'Just like they say. I am scared.' _ Sasuke's head was low, his dark hair shadowing his eyes.

"I-I'm s-"

"Don't you apologize!" Naruto interrupted, giving one more step forward. Sasuke looked at him. Naruto pointed down, towards the direction the snake nin had fallen. "All you need to do is fight with all your strength and promise me and Sakura this won't happen ever again." Sasuke stared at his teammates. The Uchiha closed his eyes and lowered his head for a long time. Sakura and Naruto waited expectantly. Finally, the young avenger raised his head. The blond and the pink haired girl were glad to see his new sharingan swirling and the look of determination on the Uchiha's face.

"I promise."

'_I'm getting tired of this!' _an annoyed Orochimaru, under his female grass nin cover, thought. He was actually fighting the two male members of team seven. Initially, when the blond brat had knocked him into the forest floor, he was determined to finish the kid for good after he had interrupted him on applying the curse seal on the Uchiha kid when he had been so close. When he had returned up the high forest trees again, he found Sasuke determined to fight him. Delighted that he could test the abilities of the young Uchiha, the snake's sannin bad temper dissipated and he begun to enjoy being target of the Uchiha's most clever attacks and combos. Yes, he was definitively the worthy heir of the Uchihas. Now that he had seen that, he was ready to mark him as his successor. But the same problem that arose before was present now as well. That Naruto. He wouldn't let him get near the Uchiha. They had worked together against him, summoning the most amazing teamwork abilities. While Sasuke performed far ranged attacks like his fire jutsus the blond did the close-ranged attacks, given his superior speed and strength. _'He's truly something.' _Orochimaru had to admit. The blond didn't seem to run out of energy and kept encouraging the Uchiha. _'Reminds me of someone.' _The snake sannin thought.

The snake ninja was now dodging the blond's attacks and the Uchiha's fire projectiles. A moment before he had distracted and was caught in Sasuke's wired shuriken, that he wisely mixed with a fire attack and managed to cause some damage to Orochimaru's outer skin. Now part of the female ninja's face was peeled off and his real face was visible. At this, team seven had to stop to stare in horror at this new attribute of their opponent and wonder if the grass ninja was really human.

'_This is taking too long.' _The snake ninja thought, watching the darkening sky. He still needed to impersonate the sound team sensei and there was a chance that Konoha shinobi found the three faceless bodies of the grass ninjas. That is if they looked well around the village. Fortunately Kabuto found them a good hiding place. His slitted pupils switched to team seven's female member for a moment. The pink haired girl was watching the fight intently at a safe distance, like her partners have told her. Orochimaru dismissed her. She didn't have any importance. He looked at the blond that had just landed on a branch near the panting Uchiha. He'll have to take him out first, that way the Uchiha would be an easier prey.

Naruto eyed Sasuke carefully. The raven haired boy was panting heavily. _'No surprise.' _The blond thought, noticing the tiredness rising in him. _'He's been using his fire jutsus more than ever.' _

"**You should finish this soon, kit." **The fox said in his mind. **"Your friend won't stand much longer. He's not like you."**

"_I know that." _The blond retorted, dodging a few snakes thrown his way. The only problem was that the blond didn't know how. This opponent was far stronger than Zabuza himself. The fox chuckled, sensing the boy's distress.

"**You might remember our deal. You promised you would let me out a few times." **Naruto perched himself in another branch.

"…" the blond didn't want to let the fox out right now for various reasons. First of all, he didn't know how it would be, being he had never let the fox out. Also he didn't want Sasuke and Sakura to presence whatever going to happen when Kyuubi showed himself. _"I don't need you. I can do this." _The fox stayed silent for a while.

"**We'll see." **Was what the Kyuubi said before becoming silent again. Naruto was about to protest when Sasuke said

"Katon, Housenka no Jutsu*" Small balls of fire erupted from Sasuke's mouth towards the grass ninja. The shinobi narrowly evaded them by moving out of the fireball's way. Naruto watched his friend closely, trying to make out what he was trying to do. He caught Sakura's eye and she nodded. _'Oh. So the trap is ready.' _Naruto started throwing kunai and shuriken, helping guide the freak ninja towards the trap's location. Sasuke's new sharingan helped him predict better the movements of his opponent, and so he knew where to direct his fireball to make the snake ninja move where he wanted to. In a few seconds, the ninja was in place. Sakura cut a string with her kunai. Dozens of kunai started raining from every angle towards the attacker. The ninja leapt into the air, deflecting some of the weapons with a kunai in her hand. Sasuke took advantage of his distraction and threw his two giant shuriken with attached string at the ninja. The shurikens past the shinobi and secured his hands, bringing him down towards a wide branch and pinning him to it. Naruto took out a kunai and waited for Sasuke to finish. The Uchiha was finishing his final seal.

"Katon, Ryuuka no Jutsu!*" A powerful beam of fire came from Sasuke's mouth rapidly, illuminating the now dark forest. It hit the grass ninja directly. The roars of the fire deafened the screams of pain of the snake shinobi. Sakura looked away and waited for the attack to be over. It took two full minutes before the sharingan users' attack died out. When it happened, Naruto plunged rapidly towards the roasted body of the snake ninja and stuck his kunai firmly on the twitching ninja's heart, determined to kill him. After this done, the ninja stopped moving and became still. Naruto kept staring at the body, expecting it to do something. Sakura landed in the branch next to a very tired Sasuke.

"Is she…" she trailed off, looking at the body.

"Off course she is." Sasuke said, wiping his sweat in his sleeve. "Must be some kind of monster to survive that." Naruto turned his head to his comrades and grinned.

"Not even a monster could survive this." The blond said. He stood up. "Now, who is going to help me take her scroll out of her stomach?"

"That's sick, dobe." Sasuke said with a smile, sitting down.

"Sick or not, I think you should be the one to do it. After all you made us loos-"

"NARUTO! WATCH OUT!" Sakura screamed. Sasuke rapidly got to his feet, his face pale. Naruto could sense something was not right. He looked over at the body. It was now covered in mud and melting. A cold shrill ran up and down and up his Before he could turn around, he sensed someone behind him. He turned around just in time to see the face. His face. Two purple stripes climbed down from each one of his eyes. His skin was the palest one he'd ever seen. And those same eyes he'd seen earlier before. Slitted and golden. His pale hand grabbed his neck tightly, lifting him up, face to face with the monster.

"It was entertaining." He hissed, his lips twisted into a malicious smile. "But now you've become a pest." He raised his other arm and enveloped it with chakra. "This won't kill you immediately." His hand plunged towards Naruto. The blond could feel a tremendous pain as the hand ripped through his chest. He didn't scream, the shock was too much. Something warm and wet poured all over his lower chest. He knew it was blood. He could hear Sakura's and Sasuke's scream. They sounded like they were miles away. The pain was the same when the monster took his arm out of him. Naruto didn't move. He started to feel drowsy. He saw the monster's lip move but he couldn't hear anything anymore. Naruto was thrown away, into the trees, until he hit one with his back and fell some more, finally stopping when he fell on one branch. Everything seemed in slow motion. He lay there, his head in the direction of his comrades and the monster. A puddle of blood was forming underneath him. His eyelids felt so heavy. Through half-lidded eyes he saw the new ninja jumping towards his friends, saying something to them. The puddle was getting larger. He closed his eyes, unconsciousness was getting to him.

"**Let me out." **The fox said. Naruto could barely hear him. **"Let me out." **He repeated. Naruto had no strength to even respond to him. **"If you don't let me out…" **Kyuubi warned. **"Your friends will die." **Naruto made one last effort to see his friends. His eyes opened just enough to let Naruto see the snake freak bite Sasuke. He fell but Sakura caught him. **"LET ME OUT!" **Demanded the fox.

'_Fine.'_

Sakura was besides the kneeling Uchiha, tears falling freely over her cheeks.

"You better listen, Sasuke-kun, while you're still conscious." The snake-looking man said. "Pass this test. Show me everything you can do. When you feel ready and want more power, seek for me, Orochimaru-sama." Sasuke had his hands on his neck, where Orochimaru had bitten him. It hurt like hell. He didn't think he could stand the pain, and it only got worse. Sasuke started screaming. He screamed his lungs out. _'Please make it stop!' _He thought desperately. Someone seemed to heard his words because he immediately fell unconscious given the great pain he was in.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked meekly, putting her hands over the boy's neck where to droplets of crimson blood scurried down his neck. Her hands glowed green and the two incisions in the boy's neck disappeared. "Sasuke-kun!" she sobbed, shaking the unconscious from of the raven haired avenger, but he didn't move. The so called Orochimaru was saying something but she didn't pay attention. The only thing she noticed was the snake ninja drifting slowly into the branch. There was a very strong surge of chakra near her. Sakura looked around, trying to locate the source of the energy. It came from the direction Naruto's body was. Something came at breakneck speed towards her position. Orochimaru, or what was visible of him being all his body except his head was already inside the branch, also noticed. _'This chakra.' _Something with long fingernails grabbed Orochimaru's head.

"What?!" he gasped. Trying to look behind him, but the force of the grip didn't let him. He felt himself being lifted out of the branch, fingernails digging hard on his scalp. Once he was fully outside of the branch, the one grabbing his head turned him around. The snake nin eyes widened when he saw a pair of slitted, red pupils looking angrily at him.

"K-Kyu-" Naruto didn't let him finish that word by connecting his fist on his mouth. The great force sent the snake sannin flying through the forest, knocking the trees his pale body met down. Sakura watched the blond with her mouth wide open. There was some sort of dark orange layer all around his body with what seemed like a tail switching around on his posterior part, making the blond a bright orange spot in the darkness of the forest. His blond hair looked wilder than normal, his whiskers were deeper and darker, his fangs had elongated, his hands had longer fingernails, the right part of his chest where the whole was supposed to be, was healing rapidly. Right now, under a veil of smoke, his muscle was regenerating at an impressing rate. He looked at her, and she noticed his red eyes.

"Sakura." He said, approaching her. Sakura could feel the overwhelming sensation of his chakra as he came nearer. She couldn't help feeling anxious.

"He did something to Sasuke-kun." She said shakily. Naruto looked over at Sasuke and a surge of new chakra came from him.

"Here." He said, showing a small revolting insect in his hand. He took her open hand and put the tiny insect in it. Her skin felt warm against the contact of the orange chakra. The pink haired girl looked at the tiny insect, revolting in her hand frantically, as if something was making it nervous. The insect made an attempt to escape but Sakura caught it in her hand. In normal circumstances Sakura would have retracted in disgust, but right now, she just looked at it and wondered the reason for her weird comrade to do that.

"Shino and Shikamaru have the same bugs. If any of them is smashed, the other bugs will come for it, guiding the way to the person who smashed it." he explained.

"Take Sasuke and yourself somewhere safe. It will guide Shino and Shikamaru to you when you kill it. They will help you. But don't kill it now because it's too dark for them to follow. Wait till there's sunlight. Got it?" Sakura nodded. She looked from the insect in her hand to the blond.

"W-What about you?"

"I'll stay with this son of a bitch." He spat. "Now go." Sakura nodded slowly, not daring to disobey. Sakura turned to Sasuke. She grabbed his arm and put it around her neck. Naruto turned as soon as she started leaping from branch to branch, each time lower, making their way to the forest floor.

"**Let's rip him apart!" **An exhilarated Kyuubi urged. Naruto darted through the branches, following the snake scent, and using his new ability to see in the dark. A second tail was beginning to form at the memory of Sasuke's immobile body.

He got to Orochimaru in less than a minute. The snake sannin hadn't tried to escape this time, feeling curious as to how the Jinchuriki will act under its prisoner influence. He wiped the trail of blood going down his chin. _'Wouldn't imagine that that idiot of the Yondaime would have the guts to imprison the nine tailed beast on a child.' _He watched the orange point come closer. _'He's gain some of my respect.' _Naruto was now standing on the same branch Orochimaru was. The blond was glaring at him, while the snake nin had a playful smirk on his face.

"I knew you were something else." The man said. Naruto gritted his teeth, his second tail now complete. "Now, show me what you can do." The blond lunged forward, towards his enemy. He threw attacks furiously, not really thinking about a strategy. He just knew one think. He would kill the freak who had hurt Sasuke, and he was going to enjoy it. The fox laughed at his dark thoughts, encouraging him and giving him sick ideas of how to kill someone as slow as possible, inflicting as much pain as possible.

Naruto's attacks were very potent. When Orochimaru dodged his blows, he would accidentally knock out a tree, or disintegrate a branch. He didn't care. Naruto was getting frustrated that the snake dodged his every attack.

"**I'll lend you more power." **Kyuubi said. **"This is not enough, you have to take it ALL!" **Naruto complied much to Kyuubi's delight. Another tail appeared and he could feel the difference. Orochimaru was having hard times evading his brutal attacks, until finally the blond got him. He was sent flying again, but this time Naruto didn't stop. He leapt forward, going for him and kept beating him up. Orochimaru was now cornered against his raw power; that new power that ran all through his veins. Naruto smiled. He felt warm inside. _'I don't have enough chakra to keep this up!' _Orochimaru thought alarmed. He had done a lot of summons, and the curse seal to top it all. _'This kid might actually kill me!' _The snake had summoned one of his most powerful snakes but it was easily discarded by Naruto. The man was now running away from the Kyuubi container, trying to escape his attacks.

"_That's right you better run." _Naruto said in a voice that didn't seem his own. _"I'm going to have fun maiming you." _He laughed sadistically. Naruto applied chakra to his feet and managed to caught up with the fleeing man and grab him by his throat.

"_Or maybe I should just break your neck." _He pondered, a cruel smirk adorning his transformed face. Orochimaru needed to think quickly. An itching by his arm where a tattoo was located signalized let him now the jounins had found the bodies. But escaping this demon was first. He made a few hand signs and his body started to melt and gain a brown color. Naruto clenched his fist, hoping he could break his neck before he could escape. But nothing cracked, just pure mud running down his hands. Naruto turned around, where he could feel Orochimaru's presence, but a new snake blocked his way. The blond killed it easily, by sending one of his chakra tails to go through the snake's throat. Now that the snake was down, he was going for the snake master. Orochimaru was doing the same thing again. Drifting through a tree trunk. Naruto hurried, hoping to do what he did the first time. But when he reached the tree, Orochimaru had just disappeared. Naruto punched through the tree in fury, maybe he was still in the tree, but he was already gone.

"_FUCK!" _he screamed. Anger boiling in him. It took a moment for him to stop cursing. Well, at least he is gone. Naruto tried to suppress the fox's chakra, but it was proving difficult.

"He's gone already." He said in his mind. "There's no need for you chakra now." But the chakra was still there. It felt even more powerful.

"Kyuubi! Didn't you hear me?" he said, entering his mind. "I said I don't need your chakra anymo-" His mental voice died down to the fox's hauling and screaming. Kyuubi was ganging against the bars.

"**Take more chakra!" **he screamed. Naruto had to take a few steps back, fearing the gate might break. **"TAKE! AND WE WILL KILL EVERYBODY!" **Naruto had to cover his ears from the noise. Right now there were three orange chains tied around him, they seemed to come down from Kyuubi's cage. But there was now another one that was trying to get to Naruto. The blond gasped.

"STOP IT KYUUBI!" the blond roared, but the Kyuubi only laughed.

"**ONE MORE!" **Kyuubi howled desperately. **"ONE MORE AND I'LL TAKE OVER!!" **Naruto was scared now. His control felt like slipping. He needed to do something. The chain was coiling itself around Naruto's leg. The blond stood still and closed his eyes. He tried calm the power he controlled down.

"_C'mon." _He said out loud. Feeling the chakra around him getting hotter and hotter. Kyuubi couldn't take over. He needed to return to his team. He needed to help Sasuke. And he could not do this if Kyuubi ruled over him. Somehow, the memory of Sasuke needing help made the chain loose around Naruto's foot.

"**NO!" **Kyuubi screamed. **"NO! NO! ****NO!" **The more Naruto thought about Sasuke needing his help, the more the chain recoiled. The fox kept screaming, as the chain vanished under the water and Kyuubi's cage. Now that that chain was gone, Naruto felt more in control.

"Now get these three chains off me." He demanded. They slowly got away from him. All at the same time. Naruto could feel the orange chakra getting out of his system and his usual blue one again present.

"**DAMN HUMAN! THE GREAT KYUUBI WAS SUPPOSED TO COME BACK! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY! I'LL PLAGUE YOUR MIND UNTIL YOU CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! YOU'LL BEG TO ME TO MAKE THE NIGHTMARES STOP! I SWEAR! THE GREAT KYUUBI IS COMING BACK! YOU HEAR ME? THE GREAT KYUUBI IS COMING BA-" **Naruto was back on his original state. But weariness like never before was taking over him. He started lose consciousness as the Kyuubi continued to bellow.

*Kanashibari no jutsu – Body freeze jutsu

*Katon, Housenka no Jutsu – Fire element, phoenix fire technique

*Katon, Ryuuka no Jutsu – Fire element, dragon fire technique.

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**I know it may be too late for this but, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 22

Naruto opened his eyes slowly. There was a bright sun up in the sky, most of his beams didn't get to the ground given that the tall trees got in its path. He was laying face down in a half tattered branch. The blond felt like new, except his sore neck, that always came along a bad surface for sleep. He sat up and looked around, massaging his neck. He saw the destruction around him. Almost all the trees around him had big holes that allowed you to see what's behind them. Like six other trees of considerable size where lying in the floor. His blue eyes turned down to his clothes. _'What happened?' _the blond asked himself as he saw a rather big hole going through the right part of his chest, the dried blood covering almost entirely the front part of his jacket and shirt and a bit on his green pants. There was also blood in his blond hair, and all over the left part of his face. He remembered and narrowed his eyes.

"Orochimaru." He mumbled through gritted teeth. That bastard. Naruto rubbed his forearm furiously over his cheek, trying to get the dried blood off him. He could only scrap a few bits. If he saw him again he swore he was going to kill him. He deserved the worst possible death for what he did to him and-

"Sasuke!" Naruto stood up abruptly. Flashes of yesterday came to him. There was the snake bastard biting his friend with an abnormally large neck. Then Sasuke fell unconscious. He did something to him. The whiskered kid tried to remember which way he had come. Was it north? East? West? _'Shit!' _He noticed the tree destruction had its patterns. They seemed to come from the North. Naruto set in motion going as fast as he could, feeling a chilly cold in the place where Orochimaru had performed the wound. '_It's not been even a month and they're already ruined.' _Naruto thought sourly. He could wash off the blood from the pants but the jacket was another story. He shook his head; It wasn't the time to think about it, he needed to get to Sasuke and Sakura. They might be in trouble or something, who knew? They were his team after all and he wasn't going to let something else happened to them. He stepped into the next branch and stopped to look around. He spotted some loose branches on the ground and continued to move that way.

As the blond advanced, he tried not to think in another matter he had in his hands, or rather in his head. _'That fox trick me.' _The whiskered genin thought darkly. Kyuubi just wanted an opportunity to take over the blond and be free again. The demon fox knew sooner or later, his container would have a need for him. Then he would strike. Naruto kicked himself mentally. _'He almost got me.' _Naruto was relieved he could revert that fourth chain. He didn't want to think about what could have happened if the fox got what he wanted. The whiskered kid didn't want to visit the fox anymore, fearing that when he enter the chamber where the fox was being held, those same chains surged and attempted to get him again.

"**Hello kit." **Naruto froze at his voice. **"Wasn't yesterday a great battle?"**Naruto started moving again.

"Glad you finally shut your mouth and stopped cursing around." The blond said coldly, trying hard to shut the fox's voice in his mind. Ironic, that all those hours of meditation were for him to communicate better with the fox, but now he wanted desperately to block him.

"**Off course you were glad. Who would enjoy a demonic being lurking in your mind, stalking your dreams and turning them into the worst nightmares someone could ever imagine." **The fox cooed. Naruto didn't respond. **"You witnessed what years of imprisonment can do to a creature that's meant to roam this world without obstacles when it sees its liberty so close. I admit it was an spectacle unworthy for the Kyuubi no Kitsune to make, but it's passed and my patience will be stronger now."**

"…"

"**Now you ignore me, when yesterday you sought for my power, the one that saved your life and helped you fight that snake." **The blond didn't want to be told about yesterday's events. He was bothered by the fox almost taking over.

"You tricked me!" Naruto finally accused. Kyuubi laughed freely.

"**Yes I tricked you! And you almost fell for it." **Kyuubi exclaimed, saying the last part sourly.

"**I admit I should have known better. You are not some dumb human and you were determined not to let me take over, but you're a human nonetheless and you will fall, I guarantee you that. Wanna know why?" **Naruto stayed quiet, quickening his pace, as if the fox was chasing him. **"I ad a hypothesis that when my chakra finally run through your body for the first time, you will become more susceptible to it. This would only happen if the seal that holds me falters and ,yesterday, I confirmed my theory." **Kyuubi explained calmly. Naruto was ticked off that the fur

ball could act as a professor dictating a class when yesterday he seemed like he was a psycho that ate babies.

"**Now that my influence on you is going to be more powerful with the time that passes, my chakra will leak easier." **The fox chuckled easily, clearly enjoying the feeling of Naruto's distress starting to forge.** "Now you won't trust me or anything I say, but that doesn't matter."**

"**There is only so much a human mind can take. I'm tired of waiting without doing a thing. I've waited twelve! Almost thirteen years, sitting still. I will haunt you in your dreams, you wait and see. And when I'm done with you, you'll beg me to stop the voices! Sooner or later I'll be set fre -" **There. Naruto managed to block the fox's voice out of his head. His influence is going to be more powerful. The blond recalled. What did he meant with that? Isn't it enough to have a demonic entity locked in your body, wandering freely in the darkness corners of his mind? The blond hadn't notice there was cold sweat running down his body. _'Worry about Sasuke and Sakura by now.' _He told himself. _'There'll be enough time for the fox later.' _Just know he noticed his hands were head snapped to the right. Two persons were coming his way.

Naruto needed to get to his teammates and he hadn't time for delays. He launched towards the two ninjas' direction, ready to knock them down without letting them know what had hit them, his body moving rapidly without its former extra weight. He was just about to meet them, they were moving towards him, behind one huge tree. He will go for the one in the left first. Applying more speed to his feet, he rounded the obstacle and prepared his punch. A loud cry and a familiar face made Naruto halt his steps. The blond crashed into Hinata face first, knocking her to the ground (branch), him above her. The boy found himself staring at the girl's lavender eyes, both with identical startled faces.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?!" An angry Kiba yelled behind him, pushing the blond off the girl rapidly. Akamaru quickly climbed down his master's jacket and started to bark at the blond. Naruto fell right besides the girl. If it wasn't for his headband, there would be a huge lump forming in his forehead. Unfortunately for the female Hyuuga, her hitai ite is located around her neck and her forehead was already swelling. She groaned softly. Naruto recovered from the initial shock and helped the girl to her feet.

"Kami Hinata. I'm so sorry, I thought you were enemies and I was in a hurry. I didn't expect you to come this way." The blond said rapidly, placing a hand on her shoulder given that she wavered a little bit.

"You could have thrown her down the branch!" Kiba accused, still furious about the unexpected episode. The girl was assimilating the situation. There was her crush; apologizing to her. He had been just on top of her a second ago. She felt a thick pain on her forehead and tried to massage it, but winced and murmured a low "Ouch" at the contact. Seeing this, the blond started to wash her over with apologies again.

"I-It's okay." She stammered, making Naruto stop talking. Hinata's attention was rapidly caught by something about the whiskered boy. She gasped loudly, taking her hand to her mouth.

"W-What happened to you?" She asked extremely worried forgetting all about the previous incident and rushing to analyze the blond. Kiba also noticed and approached him. They stared at the huge red stains all over his front. The raven haired girl was so preoccupied she dared to touch Naruto's exposed chest with her hands, trying to find the wound where all that blood had come from. Hinata looked at his back and saw there was also blood that seemed to pour down his posterior.

"Man! No wonder why Akamaru located you so easily. Your blood is all over the place! Sakura was right when she said something serious happened."

"Sakura!" The blond gasped. "So she used the bug. Where is she?" he asked hurriedly. Kiba's eyes narrowed at the mention of Shino's method to help Naruto and his team. He was mad that Shino had done an alliance without his knowledge. Team ten had a rough time convincing the dog user to help team seven. But he complied at the end. Besides, he wasn't a person who would leave someone that needed help behind. He calmed down.

"North. Like fifteen minutes from here. Shino stayed with her and Sasuke and we came to lo-" Naruto didn't stayed to hear Kiba as he launched again towards his team.

"Hey!" The dog user called over to him, trying to reach him with Hinata and Akamaru by his side, but Naruto was going too fast. "Wait up!"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata also called. Naruto turned back. _'Well, there's Shino with them now. I guess I stay with them, since they bothered to look for me.' _The blond lowered his speed, permitting Hinata and Kiba catch up with him.

"Geez. You lose like half your blood and still got energy to keep going." Kiba commented once he was besides Naruto."How did you get h-hurt?" Hinata asked, seeing nothing that indicated the escape of blood from Naruto's body. The blood-covered kid tried to find an excuse for his state when Hinata and Kiba noticed his state. _'I should have just go and avoid their questions.' _He lamented.

"This girl got me from behind and wounded me." The blond said, thinking quickly, jumping from a weak looking branch. "But then Sakura healed the wound and I continued fighting. She fled some time after." Naruto said vaguely, trying to avoid giving too much. Hinata stared at the blond in horror.

"Sakura healed you?" The spiky haired brunette asked incredulous as he moved. Naruto nodded rapidly. "Yeah. She's been practicing healing jutsus."

"That must've been some healing abilities, to cure a wound that big." Kiba commented. "Which ninja was it?"

"The grass nin from yesterday that grabbed the kunai with her tongue, remember?" Naruto responded.

"Oh, yeah. Some creepy chick, and a weirdo too. Akamaru noticed she stunk like snake. Even I could smell it. Hell, she smelled more of snake than chick." Kiba said with a pensive look on his face. Naruto's face darkened. From today, he hated snakes more than everything.

"If for some reason you got to counter her or her team, run." Naruto said seriously, looking at Kiba and Hinata in the eye. "I mean it. You see how she left Sasuke and I almost didn't make it. She will kill you even if you surrender, so just run." Hinata swallowed at the seriousness in the blond's voice.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh. My team is different from yours. We are the perfect combination." Kiba barked. "Me and Akamaru should be enough." The whiskered kid looked angry. He was about to yell at the dog user when Hinata entered the conversation.

"We should b-be careful Kiba-kun." She said hesitantly. "What if she turns out to be like that boy from sand?"

"What boy from sand?" Naruto inquired.

"Some red haired guy. Also a freak. We saw him kill three rain ninjas with one jutsu." He shivered at the memory. "Not cool." _'Red haired freak from sand?' _The image of the green eyed boy with killing intent and blood thirst staring at him came to his memory. _'Damn, why are so many freaks in this test?' _

"Did you fight him?" Naruto asked. Hinata shook her head.

"W-We hid in some near bushes. For a m-moment we thought h-he was going to c-come for us but his teammates convinced h-him not to."

"W-What are you doing?" the girl asked the blond. Naruto had just taken off his jacket and discarded it in one of the forest's trees, he was now lifting his bloody white t-shirt.

"Kiba said Akamaru could smell my blood easily." The now shirtless ninja responded. "There are hundreds of depredators in this forest and my blood will attract them rapidly."

"Oh." Hinata would have been nervous at the sight of Naruto's naked back or chest, but the dark blood dried in his skin prevented her from doing so.

"Good reasoning." Kiba said. Naruto looked at his skin.

"Just have to find a river or something to wash off… and hopefully a shirt." The blond added. "Wouldn't you have by any chance another shirt you could lend me?" Naruto directed to Kiba.

"Sorry man. I entered this forest just with my ninja kit, just like everyone else." The brunette responded. "And I can't lend you my jacket either 'cause that's where Akamaru rests and sleeps." Said dog barked at the sound of his name.

"Right. How 'bout Shino?" Naruto said and Kiba snorted.

"I've been his partner for some time now and I have never seen him without his jacket. I wouldn't be surprised if he showered with it." Naruto sighed. He would have to avoid using chakra now that he didn't have anything covering his stomach; if he did, then the seal will become visible and questions would arise. Damn fox…

"Y-You can h-have mine." Said Hinata. The two boys turned at her with surprised faces. She hesitated but continued through her now scarlet face. "I t-think it m-might f-fit you. I-It's not that small a-and-"

"You don't have to." The blond interrupted with a smile. "I've caused you enough trouble for today." He said, glancing guiltily at the reddened bump on her forehead.

"T-That was just an a-accident." She said as she stopped, making the other two ninjas halt. The raven haired kunoichi took of her beige jacket. Naruto and Kiba watched her. Hinata never ever took off that jacket of hers… unless it was under very extreme situations. Without it she felt very self-conscious. But she'd do it for him. "Besides, you n-need it more than I-I do." She extended her white arm shyly with the jacket towards the blond.

"Hinata, you don't… need to do this." Naruto said, distracted by the new image of the Hyuuga.

"I-I w-want to help." She replied. Shyly but firmly. Her face kept the shade of scarlet. Naruto remembered seeing Hinata without her jacket years before, when they were just starting at the Academy; he didn't recall when she start using it but she now look different. The plain black shirt she was wearing adjusted nicely around her figure. Naruto decided that she looked nice and he wouldn't mind seeing her without her jacket every day.

"Will you just accept the freaking jacket? We don't have all day!" Kiba yelled, bothered by Hinata's unusual act of help.

"Alright, alright." The blond said, stepping towards the girl and taking the offering item. "Thanks Hinata, I owe you one." The Hyuuga girl looked away from his eyes.

"There's n-no n-need of owing me a-anything." She replied, fiddling with her fingers.

"Sure there is! And I'll find the best way to compensate you." the blond exclaimed, now putting on the girl's jacket and zipping it up so that the blood in his torso was out of sight. He was suddenly surrounded by the exquisite smell of Hinata's scent; the blond found himself in a blissful intoxication of vanilla, flowers, marshmell-

Naruto turned his head North. There was a strong breeze coming that way that made the trees' branches were obliged to double at the wind's force; leafs snapped out of their respective branches and glided through the forest. Akamaru started barking and a dreadful feeling formed in the Kyuubi's container gut. _'Could it be him again?' _the blond thought, blood beginning to boil. The wind eventually stopped blowing and everything was calm again.

"Akamaru sensed chakra in that wind." Kiba said, crouching down besides his growling canine companion. "Hinata." Immediately, said girl responded with a firm "Hai" and, making a single hand sign, summoned her blood limit.

"There are twelve persons ahead."

"Twelve?" Kiba asked and Hinata nodded.

"There's team 10 and my cousin's team, one of his partners is lying unconscious on the ground. There's Shino-kun; Sakura-san, Sasuke-kun is…" she squinted her eyes and then her eyebrows lifted in shock.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"He's up now, releasing more chakra by the second… it's not his usual chakra."

"What do you mean?" the blond inquired, concerned.

"It's purple, and there's so much emanating from him." Naruto looked at a loss.

"And the remaining three?" Kiba asked.

"The sound team from yesterday, they're attacking the others." Hinata deactivated her byakuugan.

"We should advance without being notice and surprise-HEY! COME BACK HERE!" The Inuzuka yelled after Naruto who had, yet again, run ahead without any warning.

"We should follow him." The girl said. Kiba nodded and began to move. Naruto was already out of eyesight. _'When the hell did he get this fast?' _Kiba thought, as he strained his legs to catch up with him.

* * *

The place chosen by Sakura, in a desperate attempt to find a safe place to lie her unconscious and delirious teammate down and guard him with all she had, was a moderated-sized clear in the middle of the high, menacing trees, where no canopy interfered with the sunlight. There was a big tree with a hollow trunk where Sasuke once laid. Sakura had applied the best diagnosis jutsu she could manage from the information she had read in her books, but nothing abnormal seemed to be happening with the raven haired boy; apart from occasional chakra variations in his system.

The pink haired girl had sensed with great alarm as, from the interior of the forest, three forms moved rapidly towards her. About to activate the traps she had installed, the familiar faces of team eight brought immense relief. She thanked Naruto about his secret deal with team eight. Now Shino was with her. And so were three others, hiding in the bush since the sun was only rising, according to them. Having trespass her traps, the sound team deflected the Aburame's bugs with ultrasonic waves that left them roaming disorientated on the ground, looking for their master's guidance. Unfortunately their master was also in the middle of the wave attack and was the second unconscious person around.

Sakura couldn't believe her luck when Lee entered the picture. The boy who defeated Sasuke was now protecting her with incredible moves, but being a human being, his ears couldn't avoid being damaged by the bandage-covered ninja's jutsu and suffered the same fate as Shino. In a brief word swap with the attackers the Haruno learned, dumbstruck, that they have come to take on Sasuke by the orders of the same man that left the mark on the Uchiha's neck and put a whole through Naruto's chest. Now with a renewed determination on protecting her crush, Sakura was ready to fight. Team 10, whom had arrived in time to see Sakura fight against one of the sound team's member, was now: or chakra-drained and exhausted (Ino and Shikamaru) or nauseous and indigested (Chouji). They had managed to take care of the female sound member, but there were still remaining the most powerful two.

Incredibly, more persons appear. Lee's teammates arrived shortly after team 10 was defeated, willing to fight the ones who had left the bowl-haired boy unconscious. And the most incredible thing of all, according to Sakura, was the awakening from the Uchiha. But she noted something extremely wrong with him. There was a dark aura emanating from him and she wasn't the only one who could feel it. Friends and foes took a step back from the figure of the Uchiha boy covered in tattoos that spread all around his body. Looking into his sharingan eyes, Sakura didn't saw the Sasuke she knew; they were cold and evil, much like Naruto's the night before. It seemed like a dream.

"_Who did this to you?" Sasuke asked. Sakura hesitated to respond; luckily, someone else did in her place._

"_Me." The dark haired sound nin responded plainly with a smirk."But that's nothing compared with what I'm gonna do to you." He ignored his teammate's word of warning. Sasuke returned the smirk and then seemed to disappear into the air…_

* * *

There they were, kneeling in the ground. The Uchiha was looking blankly at his hands, shaking. The Haruno was holding him tightly, weeping. She had stopped him from continuing the torture. Sasuke had dislocated both the ninja's arms and was carving for doing more, but she had run up to him and hugged him from behind, begging him not to continue. He turned his head and glared at her with his blood red eyes. The pink haired girl could see anger in them. He seemed to want to continue inflicting pain and, for a moment, felt he was going to hurt her too if she didn't back away. Suddenly his eyes softened, cancelling his sharingan. His tattoos receded slowly back to the three dotted mark in his neck, seemingly the point of origin.

'_His body accepted the curse mark.' _Dosu thought, shell-shocked at the Uchiha's body tolerance to a jutsu that killed the majority of persons that received the seal. His face now darkened. _'Orochimaru knew this boy was going to survive and still wanted us to fight him. He just wanted us to be killed by him with his new powers.' _They had been tricked and that was a stab for his pride. He gritted his teeth and clenches his fight in rage. He wasn't going to let it pass.

Dosu'll find a way to make Orochimaru regret playing with him like he had no importance. _'I'm a sound ninja. Not some disposable pawn.'_ Dosu watched at the stunned Sasuke, seemingly shocked by his own strength and power. It seemed that the sannin had high expectations for this one. _'Off course, he's was an Uchiha.' _The young man thought, finding the way to strike Orochimaru back. _'It'd be a great loss for him if he dies.' _He remembered how the sound's leader's snake eyes lit up when he talked about Sasuke.

The genin smiled under his bandages. The curse mark let the wielder exhausted after using it. It may last two complete days, even three, being it was his first summoning of the cursed seal powers. He'll kill him while Sasuke is weak, making Orochimaru lose a powerful soon-to-be subordinate. _'But not now.' _He told himself. He was just one against too many people. If he tried to attack now, they'd overpower him. _'I'll have to wait for the right time.' _The genin took out his earth scroll from his pouch. He'll have to retreat for the time being and tell his teammate-

"Naruto!" Dosu heard Sakura yelled in mixed surprise and relief (he learned his name on the course of the battle). It seemed someone had arrived and was standing right behind him. _'I didn't even felt him arrive!'_ "Be careful! He works for the man who hurt Sasuke-kun!" Suddenly, a wave of killing intent shot through the airs, and he could clearly feel it was all directed to him. The killing intent continued to increase, along with chakra that had also being building.

Dosu started to turn around, and see the person, source of this energy. If it wasn't for Sasuke kneeling right in front of him, also looking at the person behind him, he'd have thought it was the Uchiha again, using the curse seal. He could feel himself being not just watched, but also targeted, like a prey. He saw him. Monster's eyes staring down at him. The blond kid had his face twisted in anger, exhibiting his abnormally long canines. Dosu paralyzed in fear. He couldn't think nor breath nor move. Looking into those red eyes, he knew he was going to die.

A steel-like punch hit him, losing his consciousness right away. The sound nin's body was sent flying towards a tree. A sickening 'crack' was heard the moment it made contact with the hard bark. Everyone was quiet, waiting for the ninja to stand back again. But he didn't move.

"I think you kill him." Commented Shikamaru after a prolonged silence, looking at the body and then at the blond. Naruto had calmed down. His eyes were back to normal, his chakra rapidly decreased. The Kyuubi container was breathing slowly. He felt everyone's gaze resting on him. It was his first kill. In that moment, Kiba and Hinata entered the clearing, panting a bit. They didn't say anything and just looked from the body to Naruto. The whiskered blond guessed the Hyuuga girl had seen what happened with her byakuugan and told her partner.

Naruto, as a ninja, knew he would have to kill when the situation call for it. He had pondered how he would react and feel after he had taken someone's life. The whiskered kid thought for sure he'd regret having killed. If there was any other choice apart from spilling blood, he was sure to take it. But it was not the case now. He had wanted to hurt him. The blond had hurried to help his friends. It was just unfair to Sasuke and Sakura to being targeted just after they had narrowly escaped death the night before. That reason made him angry enough to inflict pain to the ones that hurt them. But when Sakura said they were working for Orochimaru, his anger escalated new levels, his chakra control slipped and he let it all out… including a bit of Kyuubi's chakra without him even noticing. It had never happened before. He had trained intensely for a very long time to control every bit of his chakra, but now the demon fox was screwing everything up. He could feel how the fox had pushed some chakra out when the blond was burning in rage.

Naruto hadn't care at the moment. The only thing he wanted to do was to punish the person that was hurting his friends. Seeing the damage he had done with that bit of the fox chakra, he tried to enclose it as quickly as he could, fearing the fox might try to force more out. Naruto stared at the body for long moments.

"Don't worry about it man, what's done is done." Shikamaru said when the blond said nothing.

"Yeah! He wanted to kill Sasuke-kun even though he was unconscious." Ino backed up. "Besides, he was ready to kill all of us, even if it meant killing his own teammate." Chouji nodded.

"You're right. What's done is done." Naruto said grimly. He noticed a bunch of insects crawling towards their master, who was lying on the floor. "Erm… Shouldn't you check on Shino?"

"Shino-kun!" Hinata exclaimed, remembering her hurt teammate and rushing towards him with Kiba and Akamaru.

"There's also this unconscious guy with a weird haircut… Is he yours?" The Yamanaka asked Neji and Ten-Ten, who were standing on a branch. Ten-Ten's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh my, Lee!" she leapt from her place and approached her teammate. Naruto looked at his teammates and was relieved they were okay. Approaching them, he remembered Sakura had witnessed his Kyuubi fit and wondered if she'll run as soon as he got too close. Passing Ino treating Chouji by some cuts he'd received during their fight, Naruto noticed Sakura's hair had been cut to something less than shoulder-length, had bruises on her face and there was blood on some spots of her chest. She watched him in apprehension. There was a flash of fear in her eyes, but it soon passed. The blond looked downcast on this, but as she didn't flee in fear, he tried to seem like nothing had happened.

"And you didn't want me to make that alliance." He said, crouching down in front Sasuke. The Uchiha looked at him intently.

"Weren't you suppose to have a whole through your chest?" he asked in a bored voice looking at his bloody hair.

"I was." Naruto said in a sing-song voice. Sasuke glared at him.

"So?" he insisted.

"Sakura healed me." The blond responded, looking at the pink haired girl. Sasuke also turned his face to look at her. Naruto hadn't forgotten that she had seen him under the influence of Kyuubi's chakra. He only knew his fangs grew slightly because he could feel it and that his whisker marks seemed to deepen. But he was sure that whatever he looked like inspired fear. He could smell her fear. Although it wasn't necessary because her eyes gave her away. The fact that she was still talking to him and looking at him in the eye surprised him greatly. But he was sure she wasn't going to let this pass as if it never had happened, much to his dismay.

Sakura's eyebrows went up, but she noticed the blond's meaningful look. She hesitated.

"I didn't think I could do it at first." She responded, planning her words carefully. "But the attack didn't go through any vital point. So there was just muscle, bone and skin damage." Sasuke stared at her for a moment. At first she thought he wouldn't buy it but then he asked,

"And what about that guy?"

"He fled after he bit you." The Haruno responded.

"He bit you?" Naruto asked, not quite recalling everything that happened after Orochimaru attacked him. "Where?" Sasuke looked a little unsure about showing his new mark to his blond friend but did it nonetheless. He reached for the back of his shirt and tug on it to make the mark visible.

"The bite left this weird bruise." Said the pink haired kunoichi, motioning to the three dotted mark. Naruto looked at it carefully.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Like hell." The Uchiha responded, placing his hand on his throbbing bruise. "But not as much now."

"You should show Kakashi-sensei this as soon as we see him. It could be dangerous." Said Sakura.

"Yeah. We wouldn't want a snake head popping out of your neck or something." Naruto grinned and Sasuke scoffed.

"What's with that jacket?" Sakura asked.

"Hinata lend it to me, since my other clothes were drenched in blood and stuff…"

"Hey Sakura, let's fix that hair of yours." Ino said, walking towards them with her team.

"Oh." The Haruno remembered she had cut her once long pink hair so she could escape her capture. "Right."

"Weren't they some kind of enemies or something?" The blond asked, watching them walk away. Shikamaru shrugged.

"Who knows? They're women and women are troublesome. I doubt we'll ever get to understand them." The pineapple haired boy said. Chouji, Naruto and Sasuke nodded.

"Should we bury him?" The Akimichi asked, motioning to the dead sound nin.

"Yeah." Naruto responded. "I'll do it, but first…" He turned around.

"Could you tell me what the hell is your problem, Hyuuga?" Naruto spat, narrowing his eyes.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry?" Stuttered Hinata, taken aback by the venom in the boy's voice. Kiba was ready to launch at him.

"No, not you Hinata." Naruto said quickly, noticing her team had just joined them. It seems Shino was up his feet again, although with his arm around Kiba a little disorientated. "I was talking to your brother or cousin or whatever he is to you." Neji was still in his branch, glaring at the blond with his cold, pupil les eyes.

"You two are interesting ones." He said in a monotone, referring to Sasuke and Naruto but staring at the latter. "Your names?" he demanded more than asked. The Uchiha smirked.

"You are supposed to identify yourself before you ask for someone else's na-"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Anything more? Age, gender, favorite color, sexuality, favorite food?" Naruto interrupted. Sasuke glared at him.

"That'll be it." Neji said, narrowing his eyes at the blond. "Are you ready? Ten-Ten, Lee?"

"Just a minute. Lee isn't around yet." The two bum-haired girl said, still trying to wake Lee. The male Hyuuga sighed.

"I'll carry him." He said as he leapt from his branch towards the green clad ninja.

"Ten-Ten, was it?" Naruto asked, running towards her. Neji eyed him sharply.

"Uhm, yes?" she said, confused.

"Could you help me with these?" he said, rolling up Hinata's jacket sleeves and pointing to his weights.

"What was that all about?" Neji asked coldly to his teammate as they rushed through the branches.

"Just wanted me to adjust his weights." Ten-Ten shrugged. "Why? You seem very interested in that boy." The male Hyuuga looked straight ahead.

"He's not normal. I can feel it." he said, adjusting Lee over his shoulder.

"I don't know…" Ten-Ten started, a devilish smile on her face. "He's pretty cute though." Neji almost missed the next branch.

* * *

"No." Kiba stated firmly, crossing his arms.

"Don't be like that!" Ino yelled angrily.

"We've helped enough. And if it weren't for you guys getting so beaten up by a girl, we would have gotten to the tower yesterday." The dog user said, pointing to team seven.

"All right. Why don't just put it to a vote, eh? Those who want to do the rest of the test together raise your hands." Sakura said, raising her arm. Team ten, Hinata and Shino followed suit. Naruto stood a moment thinking. If they decided to go together and Orochimaru decided to strike back, he'd be placing the other two teams in great danger. But the thought of team eight or team ten facing the bastard alone... Naruto quickly raised his hand.

"C'mon Sasuke-kun. It'll make it easier!" The pink haired girl turned to the Uchiha. Sasuke had an annoyed face on. He shrugged and raised his right hand lazily. Sakura smiled.

"That makes it eight against one." She said. Akamaru barked at her and pouted. "Fine. Nine against one." The dog chirped happily.

"No you boy!" Kiba said, looking at his canine friend. The small animal lowered his head and hid between Hinata's legs.

"Well I still don't wanna!" he stomped his feet.

"Be reasonable. A team willing to attack such a numerous group would be out of their mind. Traveling together will prove a great advantage." Shikamaru contributed.

"What advantage? So far, your team and mine are the only ones that have both scrolls. If we were to go with them we'd have to help them get their missing scroll and that would cost us time." Team seven had passed from heaven scroll to none to earth scroll, courtesy from Dosu.

"Your team has voted, Kiba. You can't just ignore that." Chouji said, looking for something to eat from his pouch. Kiba opened his mouth to protest but what the porky kid said was true. His team had voted and they had outnumbered him. He crossed his arms harder to his chest.

"Fine. But I don't plan on helping you get your scroll." He said.

"You don't need to." Naruto said. "I'll get it as soon as I can so we can all be in the same conditions."

"What do you mean, 'I'll get it'?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes.

" You're not planning on going all by yourself, are you? " Sakura said.

"Not exactly." Naruto formed a seal with his hands. "I'm technically not even going to do a thing. My clones are."

"You're kidding!" Ino said. "Even though you can do Kage bunshins, one hit and they're out of the fight."

"Well these are different." Naruto concentrated in the amount of chakra he was going to use.

"Different or not." Sakura said, pointing her finger on him. "We are a team and we are going to do it together."

"We won't stay still and do nothing." Sasuke said glaring at him. "I will get the scroll." The Uchiha looked into the blond's eyes. His pride forced him to get the heaven scroll back, after all he was the one that gave theirs to the grass nin.

"Sasuke, you can barely move your left arm and Sakura, you're out of chakra for healing yours and the others wounds. If you came with me, you'll be only a liability." Naruto said with a serious face. "I know you want to make up for losing our scroll but you'll find another way to redeem yourself." Everyone was listening to team seven argue.

"So let me get this scroll and get to the tower soon. That way we can get a freaking rest!" he said in an annoyed tone the last part as he summoned chakra. Twenty kage bunshins appeared after twenty clouds of smoke cleared.

"You know what to do. We'll be going north." Naruto said, feeling dizzy. The clones nodded and took off immediately in groups of two at high speeds. A sudden feeling of complete exhaustiveness hit him.

"Now look what you made me do." Naruto said, glaring through tired eyes to the Uchiha and Sakura. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. Sasuke quickly grabbed him before he hit the floor.

* * *

"-For about a month, maybe more." He heard Sakura said.

"And you are already this good, that's amazing." Chouji also spoke.

"That's really useful in a team, you know?" Shikamaru was also there. Each of his arms was embraced to someone's shoulder, his feet being drag.

"Look, he's waking up." Ino pointed at Naruto.

"Ugh, how long was I out?" he asked.

"Like half an hour." Sakura answered.

"What was that you were saying about liabilities and stuff?" Sasuke asked with a sly smile. Kiba smirked.

"Shut up." Naruto responded. "You were the ones that distracted me." There was Shikamaru and Kiba carrying him, Akamaru walking besides his master.

"Well it's your own fault your chakra control isn't good enough." Kiba sniggered.

"My chakra control is fine!" The blond boy retorted angrily.

"If it were fine we won't be carrying you around." The pineapple haired shinobi said.

"You know what? I don't need you to carry me." Naruto retreated his arms from the two boys shoulders.

"Fine. Don't come to us if you fall down. I was getting tired from carrying you anyway." Shikamaru said.

"I can walk by myself." Naruto reassured. He gave the first step but his legs failed to support him, making him fall face first on the ground. Kiba laughed openly while Sasuke smirked.

"All right, maybe I can't." Naruto said in a defeated tone. He tried to push himself up but his arms were weak too. Seeing that neither Kiba nor Shikamaru was going to help him up, Sakura stepped towards him.

"C'mon you guys, don't leave him like this." She said, taking Naruto from his arm and pulling him up. _'Great, now I'm being pitied.' _

"You heard him. He just said he didn't need us to help him." Kiba said. Ino now had Naruto's arm around her shoulder, but his weight almost threw her off balance. Suddenly someone grabbed him from his other arm. It was Hinata. He just realized she had been walking behind him.

"Thanks." Naruto murmured to the two girls thankfully. Hinata blushed as she adjusted his right arm over her shoulders.

* * *

"What did I told you?" Naruto said happily, still hanging from the two girls but now using his feet to help Sakura and Hinata with his weight. Two were three Naruto clones in front of the nine rookies. Each of them with a scroll on their hand.

"Piece of cake." One said, throwing the heaven scroll to Sakura.

"It may have been for you. I met the masked guy from before with his team. Man they were really angry. But still." He handed another heaven scroll to Sasuke. The first clone smirked.

"Pussy." It said. The second clone glared at him sharply.

"No, don't start fighting! I need you to help me here." Naruto interjected rapidly, knowing that his clones enjoyed fighting with each other. The clones shrugged their shoulders.

"All right girls, we'll take him from here." One said, as they took Naruto from the Haruno and the Hyuuga. The rest shinobi were staring at the clones' bruises and gashes; one of them deep in one of the clone's arm.

"How did you make them so resistant?" Ino asked Naruto.

"We are especial." The clones answered at the same time.

"They required lots of chakra." Naruto responded. "Why did you think I blacked out?"

* * *

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Sorry for the delay, but I've been working in another Naruto project. But don't worry, I won't leave this story unattended.**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 23

They made it to the tower in the late afternoon without any inconvenient, except Kiba almost beating Chouji for his comment on eating Akamaru. Naruto left the heaven scroll they didn't need in the middle of the forest; maybe someone else might need it. They split up before entering the different doors that lead inside the old tower. What followed next was: scrolls, Iruka, something about balance and good luck…

Sasuke wasn't really into the whole thing; each of them had something bigger to worry about. The mysterious mark and the power that came from it never really left the Uchiha's mind since he awoke from his dead-like state. It had been so overwhelming he dwelled into it, feeling the dark aura that ran through his veins and looking deep in it for the delicious strength. But it ended abruptly as he looked into Sakura's eyes and he understood that the curse seal made him act strangely, calling out the worst of him. What was he going to do with what he had now, he didn't know but having something alien to him that he couldn't control was not something he liked. The only thing he knew for sure is that he was really tired and some sleep would be good.

He was in their assigned room, consisting of three simple beds. They were told by a supervisor, after checking out of the infirmary, that they'll have to wait the three remaining days until the test was over. Meanwhile there were numerous training grounds inside the tower they could use. This ticked the blond. The word 'training' had always been related to the fox, whom would explain what the next exercise would consist of. Naruto gritted his teeth. He recalled arguing with Kyuubi about the insanity of the exercises, but he would still follow his directions like an idiot.

The fox knew him. He knew about how the boy would react, about how the boy would resist any training method he installed. He knew the blond will miss the real reasons behind the fox's actions, but still the blond managed to escape the trap.

"**I made you who you are."**The fox said after sensing his host's frustration, with evil delight. **"My guidance is all you know and now you're left with nothing." **Kyuubi didn't bother to offer the kid his training advices for Naruto's acceptance of his chakra. It was all too clear for the demon that he'd definitely refuse. Naruto again built a weak barrier between his thoughts and the demon. Training was his favorite thing to do and now just thinking about it made him sick.

He looked around the small and unused room. The soft moonlight entered through the sole square-shaped window the room had. He was sitting on the bed nearest to the metal door. Sasuke had been sleeping since he entered the room. Next to Sasuke's bed was Sakura's, but she wasn't there. The Haruno had gone to the washrooms and now she was coming back. Naruto sensed her footsteps as she approached. The door opened with a creaking sound. The blond thought it would wake up the Uchiha but he was dead to the world.

"Naruto." She called. The blond gulped. The time had come. He had avoided her ever since they entered to the tower but being in the same team didn't help much to stay away from her. He sighed and stood up.

"Outside." He said as he passed her and exited the room. Sakura followed him. They walked a few steps away from their door.

"Now." Naruto strained his senses to ensure no one could hear them. "You are probably wondering what happened back there in the forest."

"Off course I am." She responded with her hands on her hips.

"I was kinda hopping you weren't…" Naruto lamented out loud.

"Well, too bad 'cause you're gonna tell me. It's pretty scaring seeing you like that." Naruto flinched inwardly. "Scared". Any human being would be and he still hoped it was just surprise or shock.

"OK, here it goes… I have…" He gulped. Sakura was worried. Seeing Naruto nervous like this wasn't normal.

"I have…" He whispered, making Sakura lean forward. "… The Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside me." Naruto looked at Sakura, expectant, waiting to see her reaction. The girl was confused. Had she heard right?

"But the fox was-"

"Killed by the Yondaime, yeah. That's what they made everyone of you think. But he's alive inside me and an amount of his chakra can leak out, making me able to use it." Sakura didn't know if he was saying the truth or just playing with her, but then the image of red pupils flashed in her mind, and she remembered the chakra that almost petrified her in fear. She decided to believe him.

"So that red chakra was the Kyuubi's." She said with apprehension. Naruto felt the slight tinge of anxiousness in her voice and tensed up. Sakura saw this and tried to calm down. Maybe her reaction was why he kept his secret…secret. But the way he looked at the forest and the evil that emanated from him didn't stop her from feeling anxious. "Does he or it, lend it to you very often or-"

"Look, Sakura." Naruto interrupted, wanting to end this conversation as soon as possible. "You wanted to know what it was and I answered that question. I don't owe you anything more than that. Now I ask you to keep it to yourself and just to yourself, will you do that?" Sakura nodded slowly, without saying a word. He seemed very serious about this, well and who wouldn't? It was a demon living inside a person they were talking about. She imagined what it would be like to grow up with a demon inside you. Now she understood why most of the people seemed to hate him.

"I'm serious." The blond said harshly. Although Sakura hadn't run in fear, nor yelled hateful words at him, he still could feel her uneasiness.

"I know. Really, I'm not going to tell anyone." She looked at him in the eye, trying not to imagine the red, slitted pupils instead of his cerulean ones. Naruto regarded her for a moment.

"Let's just not talk about this anymore." He said finally, turning to leave.

"Right." The girl agreed. She stood there, watching him go and enter the room. Sakura thought about everything she'd learned when he spoke again.

"Do you happen to know where Hinata is? I still got her jacket." He said, holding said jacket in his right hand, since he had asked Iruka to bring him one of his many white shirts of his from his apartment, and the scarred man gladly complied.

"I saw her training a couple hours ago on the sixth floor. Maybe she's still there."

* * *

The kunai-throwing system was activated and, from the opening of each apparatus on every upper corner of the room, a shuffling noise indicated that it was about to launch weapons any moment now. Hinata stood in the middle of the vast room, with hundreds of kunai scattered on the floor. Fighting stance ready for what was to come. Her body was covered with cuts that were so small they barely bleed. Suddenly the machines started propelling lots of kunai that were coming directly at her.

"Hakkesho Kaiten *" She breathed the same jutsu she'd been practicing for an hour. Chakra filled every pore within her body and her feet started to move. The small body of the Hyuuga was spinning as the kunai made contact with her body, immediately being thrown off course. Hinata kept spinning and the kunai piled on the floor around her. After thirty seconds of the jutsu being active, the kunai started to brush her body, adding more cuts to the ones she already had. The raven haired girl focused more on the coming weapons to stop them before they could graze her, but they kept passing through her jutsu. The machines stopped their shooting and Hinata halted her chakra flow. While she was rotating to a halt, a golden mane caught her attention. _'Naruto-kun!' _Her eyes widened.

"Hey!" she could hear him say as she lost her balance. A loud 'pop' was heard in the room and Hinata was quickly on the floor. He quickly came over at her.

"Geez Hinata, sorry I surprised you." The whiskered boy kneeled next to her. "You okay?"

"Uhm, I-It seems I twist my ankle." She responded, with embarrassment.

"Let me see." Before Hinata could respond, the blond was already taken her sandal off delicately. Effectively, her ankle was heavily swollen.

"Hmm." He mused. "Seems bad."

"I-I won't be capable of presenting the n-next exam with my ankle like that." Said Hinata downcasted, looking to the ground to prevent Naruto looking into here teary eyes.

"Don't worry, I promise you'll be able to take the test." Naruto tied her jacket around his waist. "I'm going to carry you, okay?"

"Huh?" Suddenly the Hyuuga girl emitted a loud 'eek' when Naruto put an arm under Hinata's knees and his other arm against her back.

"W-W-What are you-" The girl spluttered, almost losing her speaking skills due to their bodies proximities.

"I'm taking you to the medic nin that attended us when we got here." He said, turning around and walking to the exit, then halted. "Wait! I just saw two teams that just arrived on my way up here. She must be busy with them." Naruto stood there pondering. When another solution came to his mind, he turned towards the girl, making her 'eek' once again.

"I know! I'll take you to Sakura, she must be able how to cure this." Hinata thought that this was the closest their faces have ever been. In a second, she lost her herself in his cerulean eyes. She snapped out of it once the blond turned his face forwards and started moving again. Naruto's room was in the third floor, so they got three floors of very long stairs to go. Hinata hadn't talk as she tried to enjoy the moment of him carrying her, through her embarrassment. _'She's so light.' _Was the thought that passed through the Kyuubi container's mind. _'And smells as good as always.' _

"D-Do you…" The girl started with trembling voice after some moments of silence passed. Naruto turned to look at her slightly and continued on his way to the descending stairs. "That I'm s-stupid for t-training just before the exam?" Naruto immediately shook his head.

"Off course not." He responded. "You just wanted to be sure you were prepared for the test. There's nothing wrong in liking to train, I myself loved to train every day."

"D-Do you mean you don't like to train anymore?" she inquired with a cocked eyebrow. Naruto stopped short in the middle of the first flight of stairs.

"Most probably." He commented in a low voice as he frowned slightly.

"Why not?" The girl continued to ask. She had the hunch that the blond trained a lot since he always got so very tired to the Academy, although she never confirmed that, since she didn't like to spy on others. Naruto took a moment to think how he was going to answer.

"Dunno, It's like… I'm not comfortable with the source from which I got my training." He said slowly. "And all the things I've learned from it make me feel dirty." Hinata looked at him. Naruto always worked so hard for what he wanted, and seeing the blond talking like he was through with training, made Hinata think he was giving up on something he really liked. It just wasn't like him.

"Well just…" the girl tried to say something that would make Naruto recover his motivation. "Uhm… find a w-way of training that doesn't depends on s-something you don't like." Naruto looked at her with a faint smile, appreciating she was concerned on him and trying to help, but it wasn't like she knew another master that could dedicate full-time to his training.

"I-I mean, uhm, you can look around or, uhm … try d-doing it by yourself, like I do." Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"You train alone?" The blond asked. "I mean, no master, no nothing?" The girl nodded shyly.

"M-My father is t-too busy training my y-younger sister. Usually a Hyuuga is t-trained by his or her parents, but my father… h-he stopped practicing with me a few years back because… H-He said I was too weak to be worthy of the Hyuuga training." The girl averted his eyes from his. She had never told anyone her disgraceful story. The Sandaime knew, off course, and also Kurenai because she had been told by Hiashi himself and was later assigned Hinata as her student. Naruto could only stare at her confusedly, a feeling of rage building up inside him.

"Your father is, excuse me for saying this, a real idiot." Naruto said with gritted teeth. "He must be blind to miss the strength that you carry, Hinata. I mean, how can your own father look at you that way? Makes me want to kick him in the ba-"

"I-It's OK, Naruto-kun." The girl hurried to say. "I have mov-"

"How's that Okay?!" The blond continued his outrage. "You can't let people walk over you like that!"

"That's why I'm training alone. To prove m-myself that I don't need his or anyone's help to become strong." Hinata was now smiling lightly when months back recalling the episode made her all gloomy and miserable. If it hadn't been for the boy who was holding her bridal style, she might have continued like that. He had took her out from the sorrow her father's rejection had created and impulse her to move on. Now, seeing as if he was giving up on what he liked, she wanted to help him.

"Naruto-kun, y-you told me not to give up that day when each of us became officially genin." She was looking directly at his surprised eyes. "I'm saying the same thing to you. You always seemed happy when y-you were about to train. Don't abandon it. J-Just try to find your way around it." It was the first time someone around Naruto's age was genuinely concerned about his happiness. And the only thing that didn't surprise the whiskered kid was that that person was the Hyuuga girl, since she had always been worried about his well-being.

The feeling overwhelmed him, making it hard to find any appropriate words. Naruto's eyes were now on the girl he was holding. It was the first time the blond notice how beautiful the girl's eyes were. Not only for the hypnotizing power that was making the blond's own eyes immerse in them, but mostly for the kindness that radiated from those infinite pools of lavender. If the girl hadn't been already in his arms, the blond would have embraced her without fear that she would reject it, because Hinata never rejected any of his hugs. She may never return them, but at least she didn't jerk back or look disgusted by his touch. The blond was finally opening his mouth to say something when the speaker stick on the wall became alive.

"_To all participants of the chuunin exam. In thirty minutes, all teams must be in their respective rooms. If any brat is caught wondering through the tower, you'll be in big trouble, got it?" _Anko's voice died off after that.

"We should, uhm… hurry." The blond said stupidly as he resumed climbing down the stairs. An 'uh-huh' escaped from Hinata's mouth, as she looked away. She had enjoyed the way Naruto was looking at her and now the girl was disappointed.

They got to room 64 without saying another word on the way. Naruto knocked with his feet.

"Open up!" he called. A shuffle of steps was hears from inside until the door was opened with a loud.

"Keep it down." Sakura said in a low, but annoyed voice as she opened the door. "Don't you see that Sasuke-kun's sleep-Hinata?"

"Hello, Sakura-san." She greeted shyly.

"What happened?" she asked confusedly.

"She twisted her ankle." Naruto responded. Sakura stepped aside so they could enter. "Can you fix it?" Sakura bit her lip.

"Only if it's not bone damage; I can't deal with that yet. Let me have a look." The blond bent over and put Hinata on the nearest bed, which was his. The pink haired girl kneeled before the bed and put her hands lightly on top of the Hyuuga's foot. From the Haruno's hands a faint blue light emerged and started to enclose the ankle.

"You're lucky." She finally said, cancelling her diagnosis jutsu and looking up to the indigo haired girl. "Your bones are okay and the sprain is not that bad. I think I can handle it." Hinata breathed out the air she was holding in apprehension.

"You see, Hinata?" Naruto said with a grin. Sakura was now healing the ankle, as the once blue chakra turned green. "No injury is capable of taking you out of this exam." The girl smiled. She could see how her ankle was not swollen anymore.

"It's done Hinata. It may be a bit weak from the new tissues so rest well and tomorrow it shall be all right." The pink haired girl announced, standing up and smiling to the girl.

"Arigato, Sakura-san." Hinata responded, placing her ankle carefully on the ground and flexing it to see how it felt. A little stiff but it shouldn't be a problem. "I'd better leave now." Sakura nodded.

"I'll go with you." The blond said, heading towards the door.

"T-There's no need, Naruto-kun." The girl said. Naruto wondered why she had started stuttering now, when she was speaking perfectly fine with Sakura. "I can g-go by myself."

"I know you can. I just want to make sure no one bothers you for being out late, since it's my fault you are." Naruto replied, holding open the door for the pre-teen to pass.

"B-Bu-"

"Just go." Sakura said in an annoyed way, making Hinata's protest die down. The girl headed for the hall and the blond followed.

"Don't forget Hinata's jacket, Naruto." Sakura called after them, holding the jacket in her hands.

"Oh right." The blond went to get it.

"Don't you think Hinata looks good without it?" The pink haired kunoichi asked, looking for a way the petty girl would stop wearing baggy clothes all the time. The Hyuuga held her breath, waiting for her crush's response.

"Yeah, she looks nice." Naruto said, glancing back at Hinata who had just her black shirt. "That's what I thought when I saw her." Hinata's face flared up and Sakura smiled. _'Maybe that helps.' _She thought happily. Naruto handed Hinata her jacket. The girl muttered an embarrassed "Thank you." and they headed for the nearest stairs.

The Haruno watched the pair go. _'How can a person with a demon inside him can be so nice?' _Sakura thought. _'At least with Hinata.' _She added.

* * *

"So, what would you like me to do as a thank you for lending me your jacket?" the blond asked.

"Y-You don't need to do anything, really." the indigo-haired girl said, her jacket on again, but unzipped.

"Well, I want to." He replied. "And there's nothing you can do to change my mind. I'll do anything you like me to. So, what do you want?" _'A kiss.' _Hinata's mind suggested but kicked herself inwardly, suppressing such an inappropriate thought. She was blushing crimson now and averted the blond's eyes.

"D-Dunno." Naruto's eyebrows furrowed. He placed his hand on his chin on a thinking pose, eventually an idea hit him.

"I know! I'll take you out for dinner." He exclaimed. The girl did a double take. _'Like a date?' _she was tempted to ask, but instead decided on protest.

"T-That's too much j-just for l-lending you my jacket."

"What are you talking about?" The blond half yelled. "How many times have you let me eat your ramen? Twice! And I haven't done anything in return. Is the least I can do, Hinata. Is either that, or cooking something for you and trust me, my cooking sucks." Hinata would love that her crush cooked for her, but was too embarrass to express it out loud.

"So, name the place." Naruto said, inwardly praying that she didn't choose a five stars restaurant.

"Uhm…" Hinata mused, surrendering at trying to object to the blonds' treat. Experience taught her Naruto would have it his way, and she of course would let him. "Ichiraku?" she offered, trying to pick a place the whiskered kid could enjoy. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Hinata, you don't like ramen that much, I've seen you." he said accusingly. "Really, I want you to choose a place you like." Hinata hung her head in embarrassment.

"A-All right… I… like where our team sometimes goes to celebrate a completed mission, T-Teishoku."

"Teishoku it is." The blond exclaimed enthusiastically. "We'll go once we're out of this tower." They reached the second floor and the pre-teen stopped to ask which room was it and the girl gestured to the metallic door at the end of the hall.

"Naruto-kun." The girl called in her usual low voice as they approached the door. Naruto turned his head to look at her.

"Hmm?"

"C-Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."The blond conceded, turning his head to look to the front again.

"I-In the forest…" Hinata said as she played with her fingers. "When you h-hit that sound ninja… I s-saw some red chakra flowing through your system…" She looked up to see Naruto's face, and was surprised to see it had darkened.

"I-I'm sorry..." She soon started to apologize. "I-I was j-just curious. I-I shouldn't hav-"

"Did you see it with your byakuugan?" the blond suddenly asked, his face still serious. Hinata halted on her stammering apologies to answer.

"Uhm, H-Hai." The blond nodded thoughtfully at her response. _'No wonder why her cousin was also concerned.' _He told to himself, now knowing that Neji was Hinata's cousin. Naruto decided he wouldn't reveal his secret twice the same night. He'd like to never tell anyone again.

"It's kind of private, actually." The blond said after a couple of moments of an uncomfortable atmosphere. "I'd like to keep it to myself, if you don't mind."

"R-Right." The girl said, trying to disguise her disappointment at discovering that Naruto didn't trust her enough to tell her. _'Don't act so surprised. It's not like you're even friends.'_ They had now arrived at team eight's room. They wished each other good night. Before the blond could go, the girl decided to say one last thing.

"T-Thank you for taking c-care of me, Naruto-kun." Hinata said shyly, as a tinge of pink adorned her cheeks. Naruto smiled and said it wasn't a problem at all. Naruto had given two steps away when he remembered the prior incident they had had.

"Wait, I forgot to tell you something." He turned around, and his voice stopped the girl from placing her key on the door's lock.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"Well, back there, when I was carrying you down…" He begun and started to scratch his back. Damn, this is going to be odd. Hinata cocked her head a bit at the blond's behavior. He always goes straight to the point but now it was different. "…You told me not to give up on my training and " The blond was ready to do something he'd never done before. Hinata saw him stepping towards her.

"W-What are you-" She gave a small squeak as a pair of arms embraced her and she felt herself being brought forward to hit a hard chest. She flushed immediately at what had just happened. There she was, on Naruto's arms, being held tightly. The Hyuuga could feel her heart pounding on her chest, and her breath got caught in her throat.

"Thank you." he whispered on her ear. His warm breath only served to intensify her blush. "It really meant a lot to me. You're a hell of a supporting friend." Hinata felt like fainting, but she decided that she wanted to stay conscious for this. He had said she was his friend and in her heart, that was priceless. But there was another event that she wanted to take in: Uzumaki Naruto was hugging. The lilac-eyed girl tried to memorize the feeling of their closeness. She could feel Naruto's chest as it moved with his breathing. She thought she could feel his heart pulsing. She could definitively smell his scent, that reminded her of the wilderness. Hyuuga Hinata loved this and she wouldn't mind at all staying like this for the whole eternity.

Eventually Naruto let go of her and stepped back, a sheepish smile on his face, along with something that appeared to be a slight blush.

"Anyways, that's all I needed to say. I hope I didn't offend you or anything…"

"I-It's Okay, N-Naruto-kun." A very flushed Hinata responded with a small smile. Then, she ventured to say something more. "I-I d-didn't mind." Naruto stopped smiling, and looked at her. An appropriate reply escaped his mind. Fortunately he didn't have to say anything, as Anko's voice filled the speakers again.

"_Eleven o'clock. Time to punish anyone that's out of their respective rooms." _

"I think I'll get going." The blond said, after Anko had made her announcement. Naruto was already on the opposite side of the hall before Hinata had time to say or do anything. She quickly entered her room with her key, finding her two teammates already in their beds. Shino was lying on his bed, sunglasses on as always, so she didn't know whether he was sleeping or looking at her. Kiba was snoring loudly, his blanket only covering only one of his legs, since he tended to move a lot on his sleep. Akamaru seemed to know this and decided to sleep on the foot of Hinata's bed rather than be near of his master. The girl didn't mind, and she climbed to her bed. She lay there, staring at the white ceiling. Her mind raced back, reviewing everything that had happened in less than an hour and couldn't suppress a smile. _'He hugged me.' _She remembered herself. _'And he said that I'm his friend.' _The girl went to sleep an hour after replaying Naruto's actions and words since her mind was too tire to keep on going.

* * *

'_I will plan a training schedule tomorrow.' _The blond though firmly, not caring that the fox could hear him. He was sitting at the edge of his bed. He could do it. Just as Hinata could. The boy realized that he didn't need the fox to guide him on his training. He may have an infinite knowledge but Naruto could create something that suit him better. Some parts would probably be similar to what the Kyuubi had made him undergo and that didn't really made the blond happy. _'I'd just have to suck it up, I guess.' _Naruto couldn't let a crappy experience finished with the enthusiasm he had on something he liked.

The blond lied face down on the bed with a grunt. _'Kami, I'm tired.' _It seemed that sentimental stuff wore him up more than any physical stuff. One last thought passed through his mind as the boy closed his eyes. _'She smells really good.' _Naruto told himself, still smelling Hinata's faint scent.

* * *

_He was standing in the middle of a vast clearing. Tall trees surrounded it. You'd think that being around somewhere so tranquil you would experience a calming sensation all through your body. But Naruto didn't feel that. He had arrived at that point to rest after a long journey through the forest and now he was ready to leave. But something stopped him from moving. It was a weird feeling, filled with apprehension. The young blond could remember feeling something like that when the missing ninja Zabuza was waiting for the right time to fall upon him from his mist cover. This time though, it was more intense. There was something out there that had just made his presence clear and it was waiting for his strike._

_Cold sweat ran down the blond's back. Time passed and each second made him feel more anxious. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed drastically. The creature had finished surveying and it was now ready to attack. Naruto took out a kunai from his pouch and held it in front of him with his two hands tightly. He wanted to ignore the fact that he was shaking. There was a branch cracking on his left and Naruto rapidly turned that way. He then heard footsteps coming his way from the darkness of the forest._

"_Who's there?" he demanded in a shaken voice. Naruto was ready to attack whomever that was coming since he or she didn't respond. The person got through the bushes and into the clearing. Naruto's resolution faded away instantly as soon as he saw who it was. A golden mane like that wouldn't be forgotten, especially if it was his own. In front of him, another Naruto appeared, head tilted downward, so that the face was darkened. Naruto didn't speak. Could it be a bunshin? No, he didn't remember summoning a clone. Maybe it was genjutsu? The blond didn't have time to sort this out as his doppelganger raised his head slowly._

_The sight that followed petrified the Uzumaki. The impostors features didn't resembled the blond's. He had fangs longer than normal, the whisker marks were much deeper, the golden hair was spikier than usual and the eyes… They were red as blood, with slitted pupils. The eyes of a demon. His twisted copy smirked in such a sadistic way that made the kunai in the blond's hand slip. Before the kunai could fall to the ground, the demon launched himself forward, extending a clawed hand, ready to make of his first attack the death blow. Naruto only could close his eyes and wait for the inevitable. As the other him approached he exhaled a loud, vicious growl that reverberated through the blond's mind…_

A strangled cry escaped Naruto's mouth as he pushed himself forward. He looked around franticly, expecting to find the monster somewhere near. Fortunately, it was nowhere to be seen, and the blond was safely sleeping in the room team seven was assigned. The only people in the room was Naruto and the Uchiha, who was still dead to the world. Apparently Sakura had gone to have breakfast already. The blond took some deep breaths to calm himself and think over what he had just dreamed. _'Is that how I looked when I used the fox's chakra?' _He asked himself highly perturbed. Naruto knew his nails grew bigger, but he couldn't have seen his face. He admired Sakura since she didn't run when he had approached her in that demonic form. _'Maybe she was paralyzed in fear.' _That could be a reason. The blond ran a hand through his hair. _'Could this be Kyuubi haunting my dreams?' _The pre-teen stood still, analyzing the possibility for a long moment. He then shook his head. _'Probably a secondary effect of using the Kyuubi's chakra.' _He resolved.

Naruto wiped the sweat that had started forming in his forehead. He stood up and stretched out, muffling a yawn. Once he left the room and headed to the bathrooms at the end of the hall, Naruto noticed that there were more people in the tower than last night.

"More genins are arriving." He said out loud, as four other ninjas roamed through the halls around him. Naruto shrugged this off and focus on starting his morning rituals before having breakfast.

* * *

"You can't do that! She was about to give me my portion!" Naruto bellowed to the two women in front of him. One had a spatula in her hand, the other a kunai. The cook was about to give the blond the pair of toast, fried egg and orange juice when the chuunin examiner, Anko had entered the scene and stopped the blond from getting his food.

"Breakfast isn't served after nine in the morning." The kunoichi wearing her always revealing fishnet shirt said with a malicious smile on her face. "And I'm afraid you're late."

"It's only five after nine!" the blond continued to yell, attracting all the attention from his fellow contestants. Some looked at him with pity, like Ten-Ten. Others were discretely laughing at him, like Kiba and others were just annoyed by his outburst, like Hyuuga Neji. The plump cook looked at the blond with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, boy. Rules are rules." Naruto stood glaring daggers at Anko for another while. Sakura and the other chuunin helpers tensed up and readied themselves in case the blond threw himself at Anko, but the blond contained himself and spun around, heading for the exit door.

"Maybe if you hadn't been out of your room after the permitted time, you could have risen a bit earlier." Anko purred and smirked when she saw Naruto stop in his tracks. So she had notice. The blond turned his head slightly to her.

"You're paying for this, you hear me? Just you wait." The blond threatened darkly and left the room. Everyone looked at the blond in awe, specially the chuunin in the cafeteria. No one in their right mind would dare to threaten Mitarashi Anko. That is unless they wanted to end eaten up by snakes. The purple haired jounin just smiled. _'I like that brat.' _She thought, taking a bite from her toast.

* * *

"Gah!" the blond grunted in annoyance as he slumped down on the ground. He was now on the rooftop of the tower, with the intention of starting to train, but his growling stomach wouldn't let him. "Maybe if I drink a lot of water I can last until lunch…" the blond pondered out loud. Light steps coming from the stairs grabbed his attention and the blond turned his head to see who was coming.

"Oh, Hinata." He greeted at seeing the indigo-haired girl coming in sight. "How's your ankle?" The Hyuuga stopped a few steps away from him.

"Great." She responded, looking down at her feet. "I-It feels like it hadn't been injured at a-all."

"Good to know." He said from his position, half lying on the ground. The girl walked to him hesitantly and crouched besides him. She had something in her hands that Naruto hadn't notice before.

"Ano… N-Naruto-kun, I brought you this." She said in a low voice, extending her lean arm to show a square shape wrapped under some napkins. The blond raised his eyebrows as he shifted his position so he was now sitting down.

"What is it?" He asked as he reached for the stuff he was being handed.

"Some toast." She responded. "If I h-hadn't caused s-so much trouble last night, Anko-san wouldn't h-have deprive you of breakfast." She said this looking at her feet.

"I don't blame you, Hinata." He said with a smile, as he unwrapped the napkin to reveal three toasts. "It was my decision to accompany you, after all. But I do thank you. You can't imagine how hungry I am!" And with the last part said in an enthusiastic way, the blond bite gratefully into the bread.

"Wait a minute." He said after swallowing what he had in his mouth. "Is this from the portion you were given?" He questioned the Hyuuga, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Uhm, w-well… yes." The girl confessed nervously, fidgeting with her fingers.

"Hinata!" He tilted his head upwards and exclaimed to the sky. Hinata fell back due to Naruto's reaction. "It's your portion. _Yours. _Stop giving it to me." At the blond reprimand, the raven-haired Hyuuga looked at the ground and blushed.

"B-But it was my fault a-after all." She objected weakly, forcing herself to look at him in the eye. "I already ate w-what accompanied the toasts. You k-know that I don't eat m-much." Naruto sighed.

"It still makes me feel that I'm stealing your food." Naruto said, looking guiltily at the bitten toast. "But you do never finish a whole bowl of ramen… Fine! But I'll also be treating you to some ice cream after eating at Teishoku." The girl hesitated a bit, but agreed at last.

"Right. That gave me the energy I needed." Naruto said, cleaning the crumbs on his mouth with his hand. Hinata also stood up. "Now I can start training." This caught the Hyuuga's attention.

"You're going t-to train?" Hinata asked, her face lightening up.

"Yup, and that's thanks to what you said yesterday." The blond responded with a grin. Hinata blushed. "First I'm gonna warm up and then try to come up with a routine." Through her embarrassment, Hinata managed a smile. He wasn't going to stop on his way to become a better ninja and this made her very happy.

"Would you want to join me in my warming session?" he asked.

"I-I'm actually s-still tired from yesterday." She confessed.

"Oh, then, would you like to help me a bit?"

"I'm not s-sure if I'll be of a-any help." The girl expressed.

"I just want you to sit on my back while I'm doing some push-ups."

"On y-your back?" Hinata repeated.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. Some weight would help me get warm sooner. Not that you're fat or anything." The blond tried to clarify on the last part. For what he had witnessed between Ino and Sakura at the academy, talking about a girl's weight really made them mad.

"You're thin, actually, but not skinny thin just, ah… " Damn, he could see Hinata getting redder as he continue to talk. Was she mad at him? "I mean, you're body is just the right size and, uh…" Fortunately, Hinata cut in.

"I-It's okay, N-Naruto-kun. I'll d-do it." Her face was ducked, but Naruto could see her heavy flush.

"Heh, thanks." He scratched his head with a small laugh. Well, at least she wasn't angry… then why all the blushing?

* * *

"-Two hundred and twenty-one, two hundred and twenty-two…" Hinata was impressed. If Naruto could do this much with her on him, how many could he do with no weight on? However, he had started to show signs of being tired forty push-ups ago. Still, he kept counting.

"-Two hundred and forty-seven." The Hyuuga could feel Naruto starting to shake under her. His voice was now strained for the effort and there was a puddle of sweat right under his face. "-Two hundred and… fifty!" With that, he collapse on the concrete floor, breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" Hinata answered, standing up and kneeling besides him.

"Yeah."

"I t-thought you were just warming up." She commented.

"I am! Just… give me a minute." He continued to pant, but each time it was slower and he could feel the strength coming back to his arms.

"Whew." He stood up. "That was good. Let's go, second round." The blond was repositioning himself on the floor.

"M-More?" she asked, astonished.

"Yeah, that's my first session. Four sets of two hundred and fifty with weight on, four of five hundred with no weight. C'mon." he said enthusiastically.

"A-All right, just… d-don't tire yourself so much." She warned, again sitting down on his lower back.

"OK. One, two, three, four, fi-" He suddenly stiffened.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" she asked, but then understood. As someone had just climbed the stairs and was standing away from them. The kid had red hair and, although there was some distance between them, she could make something dark surrounding his eyes. It was either make up or really dark rings of having too little sleep. _'I think I've seen him before.' _The kid began to walk slowly towards them. Hinata could feel something dark about him as he approached. Naruto started to get up again, making Hinata jump to her feet. She noticed Naruto was not in a good mood anymore. He stopped again just a few feet from them. He was glaring at Naruto.

"I hope this time you say something, instead of staring at me all the time." Naruto said with a stony face. The Hyuuga looked from the blond to the other boy. Did they know each other from before? Still the boy didn't say a thing and continue to stare directly into his face.

"I'm serious here. If you don't have anything to say to me then go away." He kept staring. Naruto was about to lose his patience when he finally speak.

"Your eyes." The green-eyed boy said with a coarse whisper. "They do not reflect what they should."

"Right…" the blond said, confused. "What exactly should they reflect?"

"What you are." He responded. "What you should become with the power inside you." Naruto's eyes widened in alarm. He knew. Maybe his bijuu told him, too. Hinata was at a loss. What is he talking about.

"They should be just like mine." The sand-nin continued. "They are similar in the pain we have been subjected to. But they lack the most important thing… the thirst for blood." This made Hinata gulp. Who was this person?

"Well, I guess they'll remain that way 'cuz I don't desire blood, you know?" Naruto replied.

"You don't desire blood." He repeated slowly, as if he couldn't assimilate the sentence. This seemed to have angered him. He glared at Naruto. "You don't deserve what you posses. If you won't value your existence then I'll take it!" he declared firmly. Hinata looked at him horrified while Naruto stayed calm. Killing intent started to be felt all around them. Particles of sand started to rise from the ground. It was then that the blond started to act. He took a step to the front to shield a frightened Hinata with his body.

"Gaara!" A desperate voice called from behind. "What do you think you're doing?! It's not the time nor the place. You've got to control yourself." It was an older girl who spoke. She had blond hair restrained by four pony tails and a big fan on her back. The tattooed boy stood still. The killing intent started to recede and the dust fell back to the ground.

"I'll kill you soon." Were his last words as he turned around and walked towards his teammate without a word.

Naruto and Hinata watched them leave. Both gave sighs of relief. Naruto because the guy didn't reveal his secret, and Hinata because she was grateful he didn't attack her crush.

"Who i-is he?" The girl asked.

"No idea." Naruto responded, shrugging his shoulders. "But he has some serious problems."

* * *

*Hakhesho Kaiten ------ Eight trigrams heavenly spin.

**Author's section**

**REVIEW**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**It's been a long time, I know, but I've begun my final exams and they're driving me crazy. Still, I've managed to make this one my longest chapter yet! Enjoy**

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 24

"How did you just call me?" A very mad blond lady that seemed to be on her mid-thirties asked dangerously.

"It seems your age finally affected your hearing." Another blond, this time a twelve year-old, whiskered boy responded. "I'll say it again, you ready?" A vein started to throb on Tsunade's forehead dangerously. Behind her, were two men watching carefully at the interaction between the two blonds. The white-haired man was waving his hands in front of him and mouthing 'no' repeatedly. The Kyuubi container saw this but ignored him.

"Here it goes again: _gra-nny._" The whiskered boy spelled the word slowly and, just as he finished speaking, a fist came right to his head without a warning. Fortunately, Naruto was quick enough to dodge it. The older woman emitted a frustrated yell and continue to attack the blond, who ducked and jumped in the hopes of not getting caught on her hits.

"I don't know why you get so mad?" The blond questioned, as he leaned to his right, dodging another fist. "You _are _old after all. The fact that you hide it under a genjutsu doesn't change a thing- uff!" Naruto felt how her knuckles grazed his cheek and decided that he needed to speak less and dodge more.

"Stop it, Tsunade. You could kill him and you know it." At the Sandaime's words, the woman with a blue figure shaped like a diamond on her forehead ceased on her attacks.

"HA! Kill me, you say? How can she if she's as slow as a slug. Probably another effect of aging." Naruto mused. Jiraiya slapped a hand on his forehead while Sarutobi groaned as Tsunade resumed her persecution after the blond with renewed spirits and killer intent. The blond laughed as he leapt away from the mad old lady. The blow that had been meant to Naruto, was now directed to the wall, thanks to Naruto's leapt. Tsunade tried to stop her fist from reaching the wall, but failed. A big crashing noise was heard. After the dust cleared, They all could appreciate the damage done by the blond lady.

"Holly shit." Naruto said, dumbfounded and looking at the big ass hole left on the wall. _'She could actually kill me with just one punch.' _

"Sorry, sensei." Tsunade apologized.

"Just be thankful you didn't hit it full force or you'll had destroyed the whole tower." The third reprimanded. _'The whole fucking tower!" _Naruto repeated in his mind, and continued to stare incredulously at the twenty or so feet gap.

"I'm surprised." The blond finally spoke. Now he knew why the blond woman was a sannin… but still. "You're strong for an old hag." _'This brat really wants to die.' _Jiraiya thought. Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Naruto, I think that's enough." The Hokage said, stepping forward. He now was sure that presenting the sannins to Naruto hadn't been such a good idea.

"How can you say that after what she said about being Hokage?" The blond questioned the elder.

"She has her reasons." Sarutobi responded. He understand Naruto's reaction to her earlier words, but the blond needed to know that her past was complicated.

"_Being Hokage is the worst job that can exist." Were Tsunade's words._

"Apologize, Naruto. A sannin deserves respect." Kakashi spoke again.

"She's no sannin to me." Naruto countered. "Legendary ninja or not, she's supposed to respect the title of Hokage, just like any other shinobi."

"You never respect me." Sarutobi said.

"I said the _title_ of Hokage, not the Hokage himself." This earned a chuckle from Jiraiya. The Hokage sighed.

"Just apologize to her."

"Hell no!" exclaimed the whiskered boy. "I won't apologize to anyone who says that kind of stuff about my future position."

"It's just the truth brat." Said Tsunade. "It doesn't matter if you make it to Kage or not, and you obviously won't. You will accomplish nothing." Naruto gritted his teeth. "All Hokages up to this point have wasted their lives." Sarutobi and Jiraiya looked at Tsunade with sad eyes. Naruto did with angry ones.

"They didn't! They saved people's live!" The blond yelled.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Two of your relatives died protecting you and the village. I don't believe you're so ungrateful and bitter to say they died for nothing. Your fucking dishonoring their memory." Tsunade tried not to think about her grandfather and granduncle at the blond's words. Jiraiya and Sarutobi were listening to the blond's every word, hoping they'd have an effect on the female sannin. "If it weren't for their sacrifice neither of us would be breathing right now! Think about the Fourth! Think about what could've happen if…" Naruto looked at the ground, his words dying in his throat. There was a solemn silence in the room now. In that moment Anko spoke through the speakers, informing that every genin needed to be on the seventh floor to start the third part of the exam. The blond took a deep breath.

"You have no right to disgrace anyone's death." The twelve-year-old said, raising his eyes to Tsunade's. "Especially one that was given willingly to protect the lives of many."

"I'm going to be Hokage." He assured her, but his eyes shifted to the Third. "And I would give my life for this village and its people gladly." He started to walk off.

"The only thing I would be bothered about, though, is saving thankless wretch like you." His back disappeared as he rounded a corner.

"He's a fierce kid, isn't he?" Jiraiya said, breaking the silence. Sarutobi nodded his head.

"We better get to the ceremony." The white-haired man followed the blond's steps. "Are you coming?" he called to his former teammate, who had a hand tightly clenched around a crystal necklace around her neck, her face was somber.

"Tsunade?" He prodded.

"You two get going." She answered, walking off towards a different direction. The two elders watched her go.

"Could it be that he had gotten to her?" The toad sage asked in bewilderment.

"If he did…" Sarutobi started, taking out his pipe. "I couldn't be more glad."

* * *

"He seems worn out." Chouji commented to the ones around him, as they watched the medical crew take the unconscious leaf-nin on a stretcher through a door, followed by the Uchiha walk away from the battle arena along with Kakashi. Only team seven knew why, and they agreed with the idea that their sensei sealed that mark, given that it gave Sasuke trouble on his fight.

"You can't blame him. That guy absorbed most of his chakra." Ino interjected, looking with adoring eyes at the boy's back. The rest agreed with her.

All the genins that had make it to the tower, along with their respective senseis, were now waiting for the giant screen at the top left corner of the room show the next battle to follow. The first match had been between Sasuke and Akado Yoroi, one of Kabuto's partners. With Sasuke's victory, now only one member of Kabuto's team was left, given that the grey-haired boy had refused to continue with the preliminaries due to some injury he had, and thus he was no longer participating on the chuunin exam. A few shinobi thought this was rather suspicious, like Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru, but they decided to leave the matter for later and preferred to see who was fighting up next.

"**Aburame Shino vs Mubi" **Read the screen. They all turned to the bug user.

"You're up." Announced Kiba, patting him on the back.

"Good luck." The rookies said in a chorus. Shino just look at them and nodded, before walking away from them and climbing down the stairs.

"He's quite, isn't he?" Asuma asked team eight's female sensei.

"Better than loud and obnoxious." She said, looking at Kiba.

"Hey!" he yelled indignantly. Kurenai chuckled and ruffled his hair playfully. Kiba pouted.

"Sakura, I think I've seen that guy before. Isn't he the one I knocked out back in the forest?" Naruto asked leaning on the wall, and pointing at Shino's opponent as they started to fight. The pink haired girl squinted at the boy dressed with a beige overall and wearing a breathing mask.

"The one you hit must have his mask broken. I think he's his teammate." she said, looking at Shino using his bugs' chakra tracking skill to find Mubi who had hidden in a genjutsu and called for his mist clones. A look of recognition crossed the whiskered boy's face.

"Hmm" Naruto agreed. Shino had found the real Mubi and he defended himself against the clones while his bugs drank Mubi's chakra. "They all look alike. I also stole their heaven scroll, didn't I?"

"Yeah. They must be very mad at you right now." Mubi had to call of his clones due to his chakra being stolen and was thinking whether to get rid of the bugs or give up.

"So they were the ones glaring at me, back when the old man was talking at us." He said, recalling the opening for what was supposed to be the third part of the exam, but finding out that too many genins passed the second test, a preliminary exam had to be applied. The Third had spoken, while some chuunins and jounins stood at his side. Along with the senseis of each team, and the white-haired man that he had seen earlier, although the other sannin was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't call Hokage-sama like that!" Kurenai reprimanded.

"But he _is _old." Naruto replied.

"But still he deser-" She stopped at Hayate's proclamation of Shino's victory. Kiba and Akamaru started to cheer at him.

* * *

"Ouch!" cringed Chouji as the girl with buns on her hair fell with her back hard on Temari's fan.

"That was brutal." Ino commented, glaring at the kunoichi from Sand. Ino, like Sakura had woke up recently from their fight a match ago. They both had the wish of beating the other but the match resulted on a draw. Although none won, the once best friends regained the respect for each other. Now Ino didn't had her pony tail as long as before. She had cut it during her fight for a reason that escaped him. _'Girl stuff, I guess.' _He shrugged mentally. Naruto yawned. This last few days he had been waking up earlier than normal, by making of nightmares.

Hayate called the battle as over and, for the everyone's horror, they saw how Temari threw Tenten unconscious body forward, on an area filled with hundreds of sharp weapons. Fortunately, Tenten's teammate, Lee, caught her before she touched the ground or any pointed object.

"She's a complete bitch!" The Yamanaka continued.

"Where are you going?" Chouji asked, while he gleefully munched on his chips, brought to him as a present from his team sensei.

"Bathroom." Naruto called back, directing to the door a few feet ahead from him. Once he got there, he directed to the sink and splashed some water on his face to wake up a little. He could hear Hayate announcing the next match between Kiba and Chouji. He dried his face off with a towel. _'The fox wasn't lying then.' _Naruto looked himself at the mirror. Although tired, there wasn't any dark rings.

"Talking about dark rings." The blond said, apparently to no one. But a second after, Gaara entered the room and stood behind him.

"Tell me your name." Although his voice was as low as always, there was a tinge of demand in his words.

"If I do…" Naruto turned around to face him as he said this. "Promise you'll stop the stalking." Gaara stare at him in his usual coolness.

"Everything will stop once I kill you." he replied. Here he goes again. The blond thought, rolling his eyes.

"What the hell is your problem with me? Is it because I'm also a jinchuriki?"

"I don't discriminate on whom I want to kill. I just do it because it's my reason to exist. The fact that you also have a demon within you does attracts me due to the satisfaction it'll come after I absorb your blood into my sand." Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"How are you so sure you'll succeed on killing me?" He didn't respond.

"Man, you must really have serious childhood issues." The blond commented.

"You are not wrong." Gaara replied. "In my childhood lie the events that gave me clarity of mind." Naruto suppressed a snort as he was going to continue speaking.

"I am because of death. Everything relates to death, since my first breaths. The woman that gave birth to me died during the process. I was then left with my father, that started training me after I received the demon Shukaku my village had imprisoned in a jar of tea. He first thought that I would be an big help for my village, serving as a weapon to protect it. But then he realized I was definitively a threat. There's when the fun begins." His lips twisted upwards. Naruto listened carefully. There was a pounding on the walls, that shook the room a bit. It came from the arena but it didn't bothered Naruto nor Gaara.

"I can't remember how many times he sent his ninjas to kill me." Gaara said, trying to recall. "I just remember that I was six and there was a lot of blood. At first I was scared. There was only one person I thought I could trust and I relied on him. But in the end, he died trying to kill me, just as everyone else." His face returned to being inexpressive. The whiskered kid couldn't tell if he feeling some kind of sadness.

"That's when I discovered my purpose on this world. I must kill to live. The blood I collect is prove that I am alive. Blood is love." Naruto wondered if the tattoo on his forehead could probably be made of blood. For what he had said, it wouldn't surprise him. It seemed that he had finished his wicked story and Naruto was grateful for that. He was crazy. But worst of all was that it wasn't even his fault. The village that tried to finish him off was guilty for what he'd become. The Uzumaki couldn't help to wonder what would've happened to him if Konoha had done the same with him. Hadn't the Third nor Iruka been here, would he finish the same as him? He had only kill one person in his entire life, and he still carried the guilt. His last nightmares had been of Dosu dying by his hand.

What surprised Naruto the most was how he didn't seem to feel anything as he talked about the horrible things that happened to him. He put his hands deep in his pockets to hide his shaking.

"Well, Gaara… You're life is seriously fucked up." Naruto said, trying to sound calm. He looked at the door and realized he wanted to get the hell away from him. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and believe me or not, I'm really sorry for what happened when you were a child." With that said, the blond left Gaara alone in the room, thinking. He had gotten what he wanted, but why did the last part he said bothered him so much.

* * *

Naruto tried to picture himself taking others lives without feeling a thing, and it made him want to throw up. Could the absence of human contact and care really turn someone into a… monster? It seemed it could.

"Naruto-kun?" Someone called his name. Naruto looked up and realized he had already reached his spot with the rest. "Y-You're kind of pale." Hinata asked. Naruto stared at her for a moment and wondered if simple interaction could make a difference on how you valued people's life.

"A-Are you all right?" she pressed, this time more concerned. Naruto snapped out of his thoughts.

"Uhm, yeah sure, it's just…" nothing came to mind. "How is the fight going?" he said, changing the subject. The Hyuuga looked at him with a weird glance, but sensing his discomfort, she decided to let it go.

"Shikamaru-kun is d-doing great against that rain genin and Kiba-kun and Chouji-kun e-ended up in a draw." This surprised Naruto.

"A draw? Again? How did that happened?" He looked around trying to find either one of them.

"Chouji used his meat tank jutsu against Kiba's gatsuga*." Sakura explained. "It didn't stop Chouji completely so he continued to roll and hit Kiba, knocking him out."

"Hadn't they tied?"

"Yeah, because Chouji continued to roll until he hit the wall." She motioned for a gigantic hole on the east wall. "And collapsed."

"Kagari from the rain village is unable to continue fighting!" Hayate cried, then coughed. "Nara Shikamaru wins!"

"YEAH! GOOD JOB SHIKAMARU!" Ino screamed, pumping her fists into the air. "Where are you going?" she asked, once she saw Shikamaru go with the medical personel. He ignored her question.

"I bet he's going to look for a bed in the infirmary." Sakura said.

"Lazy bastard!" Ino yelled after him. "You didn't even got hit!"

"Let him enjoy his victory the way he likes it, Ino." Asuma spoke. Ino looked like she was going to say more but contained her words. "I'm going to check on Chouji. Oh look! The next fighters are going to be announced." He pointed to the screen and the kids turned to it. Names were passing rapidly on the panel until it stopped abruptly.

"Oboro vs Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate read the yellow names on the panel. "Please come down here."

"Man, that guy looks furious." Ino commented at the sight of the last rain genin climbing down the stairs to the centre of the arena, his dark eyes locked on Naruto. Unlike his other two teammates, Oboro was missing his mask. "Do you know him from before?" She turned to the blond.

"We've met a few times." Naruto responded, approaching the rails.

"Anyways, do your best!" she cheered, grinning at him.

"No, don't! or you'll probably kill him." Sakura said quickly.

"Yeah, you might be right." The whiskered boy said with a smirk.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata called in a quiet voice, taking a step forward.

"Hmm?"

"G-Good luck." She mustered, her confidence dissolving. Naruto smiled and nodded before leaping over the railing and landing on the arena.

"You ready?" the ill-looking shinobi asked once both were on the centre.

"Always." Naruto replied, smirking to his opponent. Oboro nodded.

"You can start." Hayate said, stepping back.

"You better take off your weights, if you don't want to lose too fast." Oboro advised, taking a few steps back.

"I've beat you before with my weight on. I can do it one more time, don't you think?" The blond replied, crossing his arms. This seemed to infuriate the rain ninja further.

"You'll suffer. Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu!" the spiked haired kid cried, making a hand seal. Naruto could swear he felt a chakra disturbance in the area, but decided to leave it for later. Replicas of Oboro appeared after the area cleared. _'Fifteen.' _Naruto counted.

"Bunshins, huh?" Naruto mused as the clones started to surround him. "They're nice. How 'bout I show you mine?"

"I won't let you." One of the Oboros said and Naruto supposed he was the original. The clones went straight at him.

"Fine then." The blond had already decided the first three clones he would attack. They were the ones nearest to him. Rushing towards the one heading the attack, Naruto held his feet, ready to punch him in the face. Once he'd done that, he would spin around and deliver his ankle to the second's jaw, with the third one he would seiz-

"What the hell?" he asked out loud, as his hand went right through the first clone. He lost his balance. _'Are they illusions?' _He thought as he put his palms on the ground, that way he prevented falling on his face. From his peripheral view, he saw two clones about to throw kunai at him. _'If they're illusions they couldn't possibly hit me… right?' _He was doubting now. If he stood still and the kunai can do real damage, he might die.

The kunai left the clones' hands and went directly at his back. _'I'll have to find out in a way where my vital points aren't exposed.' _He decided in the last second and, sending some chakra to his feet and hands, he impulse himself upwards a good twenty feet into the air. From the sounds of the kunai hitting the ground where he had been before, Naruto judged the clone weapons could cause damage. Taking a kunai into his mouth and putting his fingers in a cross shape, Naruto was about to summon his bunshins when he noticed that there were only fifteen Oboros down there. That meant either a clone or the real one was hiding somewhere else, probably underground. _'Hmm, then the chakra disturbance from earlier must have been a genjutsu to cover the hole he made in the ground.' _ Oboro must've done it while the smoke of the bunshins was around him.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The blond yelled, once he started to fall. Fourteen Narutos, each with a kunai on his mouth appeared with fierce faces.

"I'm counting on you." Naruto said, breathing heavily. "The one that finds the real guy, let me know." Numerous shouts of 'Yeah' were produced by the Naruto replicas, as they charged forward, each choosing an opponent to fight. Although they couldn't touch the Oboro bunshins, the kage bunshins did pretty good at blocking the kunai, that were the only palpable thing and thread. There were a few Naruto bunshins that had suffered cuts but were still fighting like nothing ever happened; This amazed the audience. The only one who was having more difficulty than the others was a tired Naruto who had to dodge, duck, roll and jump to avoid any injury.

'_It's my chance.' _The rain ninja thought darkly, while using his Me tsuchi no Jutsu*, when he saw Naruto fall on his back after escaping another swing from an Oboro bunshin. Using chakra on his feet to plunge himself out of the ground, Oboro appeared behind the blond, who was just standing up. Naruto turned his head and, by the time he understood what was happening, Oboro stabbed him on the shoulder with his full strength, making the kunai insert deep in his flesh.

"This is for everything you made me and my team pass through." The brown-haired boy chuckled at the blond's face of shock. He pressed the kunai further, making blood pour from the wound and earning a scream from the Uzumaki. He stopped laughing when the clone smirked.

"You're so stupid." He muttered, before puffing out of existence.

"Uh? Wha-"

"Sennen…" A familiar voice spoke from behind him. He turned just in time to see his evil grin."…Goroshi!" Oboros eyes grew wide with fear and even wider when he felt an unimaginable pain struck his butt. Silence fell on the whole room at Naruto's move. After a moment, the spectators started to react, some disgusted and some bemused.

"I don't believe it." muttered Kurenai to herself, scandalized by the young blond's action. To her side Hinata was guarding an embarrassed silence, Sakura smacked her forehead with her hand and Ino was asking "He didn't just do that, did he?" Asuma was thankful he had returned from the infirmary to see this.

'_Kakashi you and you're techniques…' _The great Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose. _'Be grateful that Iruka didn't see this. If he had, he'd kill you for sure.' _He turned his head sharply at Jiraiya, who was chuckling to himself. They both turned to their left, as Tsunade was climbing up the stairs. Her eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying. They didn't say a word.

"He is a disgrace for us shinobi." Neji said reproachfully. _'I thought he was a serious person.' _Tenten thought, reconsidering the image he had of the boy.

"That kid is a joke." Kankurou said to his sensei, who nodded in agreement. Temari was shaking his head while Gaara just cocked an non-existent eyebrow.

"That's right." Naruto said with a big smirk. "I just poked your ass." Oboro's clones disappeared.

"**WHAT THE FUCK?" **Oboro roared, breaking his silence, falling forward and grabbing his posterior part in agony. **"YOU'RE FUCKING SICK!" **He continue to roll on the ground, yelling obscenities and cursing the blond's relatives. Watching the spectacle, the Kyuubi container's clones laughed their ass off until Naruto dismissed them.

"How did you know?" questioned Oboro once he had stopped howling. He stood up slowly, his knees shaking.

"Well, you couldn't have gone anywhere else. So I just made you believe the clone you attacked was me." Oboro snarled angrily at the blond.

"I'm starting to get bored, you know?" the blond said, while looking at his nails. "I think it's time to end this now."

"C'mon, then. I'll finish you off right-" In a blink of an eye, the blond had disappeared from his place, some feet away from him, and reappeared again a few inches away from his face. "-now." The rain-nin was shocked. He was still wondering how Naruto got so fast at him. He wasn't the only one dumbstruck. Many members of the audience hadn't seen him move either.

"As you wish." The shorter boy said, grabbing him by the front of his clothes and lifting him up, making Oboro's feet hanging in the air. Just when Naruto was lifting his arm to connect the final punch, Oboro reacted.

"I give up!" He cried desperately, seeing the chakra around the blond's clenched fist.

"W-What?" The blond stammered. He didn't understand what was happening. Oboro was quitting? He was the one who invited him to attack, after all. Hayate, who had been paying close attention to their every move, spoke:

"Are you positive?" Oboro looked at the blond, whose face was twisting in anger and annoyance.

"Yes!" He confirmed with trembling lips.

"Then, the winner of the eighth match is Uzumaki Naruto!"

"You can't be serious?" Naruto yelled at Oboro, who was still in his grasp. "I was expecting a real fight and, this is what I got?"

"Let it be, kid." Hayate said, trying to calm him down. Naruto looked into Oboro's eyes.

"Shit!" He yelled again, still pissed, letting go of the other ninja brusquely and making him fall on his already sore butt. "It's not like I was going to kill you or anything." He gave his back to Oboro, and continue his rant, while he went to retrieve his kunai that was lying on the floor. Meanwhile, Oboro's pride had been wounded yet again, and by the same jerk for the third time. He found himself shaking in rage. His eyes turned to the blond who was retrieving a kunai nearby and the wrath became larger and unbearable.

"You have humiliated me for the last time." he whispered. The blond heard the other boy mumble something and turned around to see what the matter was.

"Wait!" Naruto heard Hayate yell, along with distant cries from the public above him. When he saw Oboro, he knew why the chuunin looked so worried. He was no longer sitting on the ground. The other boy was heading at him, full speed, with kunai clenched tightly on both his hands and yelling 'I'm gonna kill you' at the top of his lungs. He was so close and it all happened so fast that the blond couldn't react in time. Oboro incrusted the knife on his torso, right in the middle of two ribs and into his lung.

"Agh!" the blond let out a cry at the searing pain that spread all over his body. But Oboro wasn't done yet. Blinded by his anger and with all his force, he twisted the kunai when it was still inside the blond's body. This made the blade make even more damage in his respiratory organ, not to mention his flesh too. Another cry from Naruto, this time louder. Several yells of horror were heard among the watching crowd.

"That's what you get for making me look as a fool!" Oboro screamed with a twisted grin as Naruto doubled over in pain and fell to his knees. A puddle of blood was already forming under the blond. The examiners began to appear around them, along with some teachers, ready to restrain Oboro and stop him from hurting Naruto anymore. But when they got to him, Oboro was sent flying in the air and into the wall, by making of Naruto smacking him with the back of his hand. This made sure he was knocked out, if not dead.

"You fucker!" He yelled. The chuunins tried to ignore the display of strength from the blond's part and got ready to attend him, when he collapse on his back.

"Quick! Get the stretcher!" Kurenai yelled to the medic crew. The three men were already running towards the injured boy.

"Naruto-kun!" He heard Hinata's voice approaching.

"You kids go back to the stands. We need to get him to the medical center." Hayate said. But Ino, Sakura and Hinata ignored his words and crouched down by the blond.

"I… think… It…reached… lung." Naruto struggled to talk between gasps.

"Try not to speak, Naruto-kun." Hinata said.

"Kids leave him alone! He needs medical attention!" Prodded the examiner.

"Sakura is a medic-nin!" Ino protested, motioning to Sakura. "She can help."

"You are?" The older shinobi questioned with an incredulous look.

"I know some medic jutsus." The pink haired girl responded. "I can heal the flesh wound but he's got a punctured lung. That's out of my league."

Three veterans stood on the railed platforms, contemplating the small crowd around the boy and listening to what was being said. Jiraiya turned to the woman who used to be her teammate.

"You could help him now, you know that?" he questioned but Tsunade didn't respond. Since the incident, she had been starting at the blood and shaking desperately.

"I-I'm not g-getting near him." She responded weakly but decided. The Sandaime looked at her student with sad eyes.

"You did insult his father, you know?" Said Jiraiya. Tsunade was about to say something when a shriek was heard from below.

"Don't!" Sakura and Hinata shrieked at the same time. A man from the medic crew had suggested to take out the knife on the medical center a floor down, but Naruto had gotten ahead of him. With his hand, he took the bloodied handle of the kunai firmly and clenched his teeth. The weapon was thrown aside with a metallic sound. A strangled shout was emitted by the boy. He tried to say something but his breath was caught on his throat and immediately began to choke.

"Baka!" Yelled the pink-haired girl, now panicking. She quickly grabbed her skirt and tore a big, squared-shaped piece, large enough to cover the wound completely. Naruto was turning a slight shade of blue. The jounins, at Naruto's brave but very stupid action, began to move.

"Quick! You must have a chest tube somewhere." Asuma told the head of medical staff.

"W-We do, but it's back at the medical center." He rushed to say.

"Then hurry and bring it!" Kurenai yelled. "Also call a medical-nin immediately! He needs to be treated quickly."

"H-Hai!" responded the man and hurried to the exit door that lead to the stairs.

This time Sarutobi was the one to speak.

"I know that incidents from the past had caused an enormous fear of blood, Tsunade." He spoke, at the sannin. "But it's time to let the past behind and move on. I'm sure they wouldn't be proud if they found you hiding at the sight of blood." It had been a week since the legendary sucker had returned to the village she had once called home and it was the first time her sensei spoke to her about past years. Tsunade didn't respond. As she looked at the pool of red liquid forming around the Kyuubi container, she couldn't help to think about the terrible nights when her loved ones had died, covered in blood.

"Hinata, help me hold the cloth in place. Leave one side loose." The female Hyuuga immediately complied, pressing her hands on the left border of the cloth, while Sakura pressed on the top and bottom border. Immediately, Naruto could breathe again, although with difficulty. The loose flap moved as Naruto breathed.

"Thank Kami." The Hyuuga girl muttered, grateful that his face regain his normal color.

"Sorry." She jumped a little when she heard his weak voice. It didn't seem the voice of the loud ninja. "I guess it wasn't… such a good idea."

"Off course it wasn't!" Sakura scolded, looking over at the door and waiting for the medic-nin to come. What the hell was taking so long? "From now on you'll be still and let the doctors proceed. They don't need your help." Naruto raised his right hand slowly and flipped his middle finger at Sakura. His bloodied lips formed a little smirk. The pink haired girl shook her head in disbelief and frustration. The chuunins and jounins around them looked at each other, impressed at the blond's impertinence under his situation.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata said in a disapproving tone, while putting her hand on Naruto's and lowering it so he could stop his rude sign. "If i-it wasn't for Sakura-san, you would have probably…"

"Died?" Naruto finished for her. He smiled. "Don't worry. I won't die until… I become Hokage… You can count on that." A smile crept to Hinata's lips. They stayed smiling and looking at each other, until Naruto realized the weight of her hand that was still over his and looked down. This made the dark-haired girl to also take account of that. She blushed and immediately turned around, opposite to him, removing not just the hand on his fist, but also on the cloth. Naruto again began to choke.

"Hinata!" Sakura, Asuma and Kurenai yelled. She 'eep'ed, realizing what she had just done and turned around again to place her hand on the flap. "I-I'm sorry." Her face was deep red. Naruto took in short breaths.

"It's... fine." He replied, once he had enough air to speak. "Just… don't do it… again."

"You two are impossible." Commented Sakura, then she exclaimed. "Where the hell is the damn doctor?"

"You don't have to shout." Said a new voice behind her. They all turned their heads to see who it was. Jounins and genins, all stepped aside so the woman could pass. The adults muttered a polite "Tsunade-sama" as she approached the boy.

"Tsunade?" Asked Sakura in disbelief. "As in the sannin? Is an honor to meet you. I've read your books and I got to tell you you're brill-"

"Save it, girl. I'm just here to mend him." She kneeled before the blond, a hesitant look on her eyes.

"Really?" Asked the blond, eyeing her.

"Yes." Tsunade said with a firm voice, but her eyes looked hesitant when they posed on the red liquid on the floor and wound. No one missed the slight tremble of her hands. But it stopped at the blond's next words.

"I don't want you to." Naruto said with vehemence, struggling to get all the words out without pausing for breath.

"What?" She asked with a confused face.

"Naruto! Don't you know who she is?" said Sakura.

"I know… who she is." The whiskered kids responded, his hard eyes fixed on the woman. "She is someone… that doesn't appreciates… people's sacrifices… someone… who hates… Hokages." A cough stopped him from saying anything more. The jounins were worried. He shouldn't talk so much. Tsunade looked at his cold eyes while he was speaking. And in them, she could see her lover and brother's eyes reflected, reprimanding her for thinking the way she did and saying those awful things. Her eyes began to cloud, but she could stop the tears before they fell.

"I was terribly confused." She said just loud enough so the blond could hear her. "And I'm so sorry for saying that." Naruto's eyes were still glacial, not believing what she was saying.

"The truth is… I love people who strive to protect the village. I admire them because they have the courage that I know I lack and unconditional love for anyone and everyone. That love is so much that they'll die for them in a blink of an eye, without regretting anything and actually being happy." She dropped her eyes to her hands. "I know I was wrong and you were right. So let me help you to make up for my brash words." Tsunade hung her head, waiting for him to say something. Naruto's eyes softened.

"You better hurry… if not I'll… bleed to death." Her shoulders lowered, showing she sighed deeply in relief and gratitude and began to work immediately. Her chakra infused hands placed themselves right above the open wound. A punctured lung was never healed so quickly. Naruto's pain vanished and he could breathe again as normal. Just as she was finishing the outer wound, the medic-nin arrived at the scene just to find that she wasn't needed anymore. _'Amazing.' _Was the word that repeated itself on Sakura's mind. Jounins and chuunins all have similar thoughts. Hinata was telling Naruto to rise slowly. Tsunade looked at the small puddle of blood besides her feet and was surprised that it didn't affect her in the minimum. She turned to the rising blond and smiled to herself. _'I'll make up for the lost time I spent hiding and gambling.' _She said to herself. Naruto was inhaling deeply, searching for any flaw that may have remained. He found none.

"Wow." Naruto ran his fingers over the place where the kunai had entered. "Feels as if nothing had happened." Just to make sure, he breathed one more time as deep as he could.

"Don't force it, N-Naruto-kun." Warned Hinata.

"Do you think It'll tear apart again or something?" The blond questioned.

"I-It's just been patched up." She replied. "Might be very d-delicate."

"Nothing 'bout me is delicate." Said the whiskered kid with a grin. This earned him a chiding look from the girl that were so unusual from her. "All right, all right." The blond wiped the blood that was on both corners of his mouth.

"I t-think you should thank her." Said the indigo-haired girl.

"Yeah, you're right." He turned around for the medical master. "Granny, I gotta than- Where is she?" He asked when he didn't see her around.

"She left." Replied Sakura simply.

"Oh. Maybe I shoul-"

"Whatever you're gonna do, don't do it here." Said Hayate. "We have wasted enough time(cough)"

"He's right." Said Asuma. "We must go back to the stands."

"_We'll_ go back to the stands." Kurenai referred to her and the girls. "You will go with Naruto to the infirmary."

"Why should I if I'm already healed?" He demanded.

"Because you lost a good deal of blood. We don't want you to faint or anything."

"It's been worse." Replied the blond. "And I feel fine. Just let me watch the rest of the fights."

"Hmmm." The bearded jounin mused, deciding what he should do.

* * *

Naruto and the remaining genins that weren't on the infirmary stood against the railing, waiting for the next participants to be announced. He had already thank Sakura and Hinata for keeping him alive, the only one missing was Tsunade, who he decided was going to look for later. The staff had now cleaned the blood on the arena (Mostly Naruto's but also some of Oboro's) and they were ready to continue.

"You should have taken him. Look at how pale he is, he must rest after everything that happened." Said Kurenai to her fellow shinobi.

"Nonsense. He looks fine. Besides, he promised to get a checkup after the fights were over."

"If anything happens to him, you'll have to respond to Kakashi, you hear me?"

"They're worse than Sakura and Ino, don't cha think?" Whispered Naruto to Hinata, who giggled.

"What was that?" Asked said girls at the same time.

"Nothing." Responded Naruto quickly. "Oh, look! The next ones are going to appear on the screen." That effectively drove Ino's and Sakura's attention away. They were all glancing at the switching screen. All except Hinata who was, although with her head pointing forward, her pupil-less eyes were looking discretely at the blond boy next to her. Her heart was still thumping of the sensation of dread that struck her when she saw Naruto on the floor, covered in blood. Still thanking Kami with all her might, the pre-teen didn't notice when the names had stop passing, and how the screen now portrayed the identities of the next two fighters. But the others did, and Hinata only reacted when Naruto turned his eyes to her.

"Hyuuga Neji." Naruto said. "That's your cousin, right?"

"Y-Yeah, but why…" The girl was confused. Why would Naruto be talking about her cousin? The blond, at seeing her face, pointed at the screen.

**Hyuuga Neji vs Hyuuga Hinata **The girl stood staring at the screen, not believing her eyes.

"Isn't he like very strong?" asked Ino in a worried tone. "He was the rookie of the year of his class." Sakura nodded her head.

"Who cares? Hinata can handle him." The blond replied. "Right, Hinata?" The girl didn't respond. At this time her face seemed paler than normal. Naruto frowned.

"Anyways, you need to go down there." Ino hurried the girl, seeing that Neji was already waiting for her on the middle of the arena.

"H-Hai." She said meekly and turned to go, but a hand on her shoulder made her look back.

"I could wish you good luck." She heard Naruto say, her eyes lock on his endless pool of blue. "But I'm pretty sure you don't need it. Just do your best and you'll be good." Just as he finished saying these words the girl's mood had changed direction. The blond was even more concerned when she looked down at her sandals. Had she lost all her confidence? But when she popped her head up again, something startled the blond. Hinata was wearing a small but pretty grin, that made all her face glow. Never in the time he had known her has he seen Hinata grin. The girl left after a quick 'arigato' and turned her back to him. _'Grinning like that, knowing she's about to fight Neji... Her confidence is building up.' _Thought team eight's sensei with amazement, looking at the blond with surprise. His effect on her was greater than she thought. Kurenai's lips curled up.

* * *

Hinata had arrived at the centre of the arena and Hayate had given the starting sign.

"Before we begin…" Started the long-haired Hyuuga, with his arms hanging loosely at his sides, not looking at Hinata's eyes. "I want to tell you that there's only one result for this match and there are two ways we can get to that result. The first one is me beating you up until the judge declares me winner."

"The second one is you giving up and saving us time and energy. I recommend the latter one, since the first one seems unnecessary." Hinata remained silent as he talked.

"Now, Hinata-sama, which one will you choose?" Came is cool question, his eyes now fixed on her, watching her expression. From the stands you could hear a faint but firm 'prick' coming from Ino.

"I'll prefer to fight you, Neji-Niisan." Responded the other Hyuuga on the room, with a calm voice and a blank face. Her choice seemed to confuse the older Hyuuga.

"Why would you do that? Knowing that I am going to win." Said the presumed boy.

"That conception may be erroneous." The raven-haired girl said. Neji seemed amused by her words.

"How can it be? You're weak and I'm strong, knowing this the outcome is easy to predict."

"I've been training." Was Hinata's simple reply.

"So what? Training won't change what you really are… a failure." He said harshly, expecting her to be discouraged by his words. Seeing she remained confident, he continued, "Don't tell me that you actually think you can win." The brown haired Hyuuga sneered. The girl remained silent and she started to fall in position.

"So be it." Said Neji, ticked off by her stubbornness, slipping into the traditional Hyuuga fighting stance, the same one Hinata was in. Both Hyuugas activated their byakuugan without a word or even a hand seal. Veins protruded beneath their skin surrounding their eyes and thin, giving a fierce look to their faces. _'I've never fought him before but I know he is fast.' _Thought Hinata, as they started to move in circles, making sure to leave a good distance between them. _'But is he faster than me?' _Neji then darted forward, as if hearing her thoughts and helping her find the answer to her questions.

He thrust his right arm at her, aiming at her chest with his open palm, with his left one in front of him in case he needed to defend himself. Hinata leaned to the left and met his arm with her left one, diverting it to the side and away from her body. The indigo-haired kunoichi could feel the chakra thrown by Neji's palm pass her shoulder like it were a gust of wind. If Neji had helped his attack with his weight on it, he would have lost his balance and fell forward, but experience taught Hyuugas to launch measured attacks. _'I won't get him this way.' _

The girl now went for Neji's chest but he parried her hand with his. Continuous attacks were thrown by the young ninjas in their unique fighting style, and both pulled off their best defensive movements, knowing that the end would come if they got hit even once.

In the stands, there were people greatly interested on the battle going, as it wasn't everyday that you had the chance to see two Hyuuga fighting. Watching closely, they saw how waves of chakra emanated each time an attack was casted.

"So, not only can they damage the internal organs, but also the chakra circulatory system, as well as close the tenketsu points?" Asked Ino, who still had trouble believing special eyes could allow you do all that.

"That's right." Responded Lee and Guy at the same time.

"That's crazy."

"That's the reason why Hyuugas are feared and respected all over the shinobi world." Said Kakashi, watching the fight.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be their enemies, that's for sure." Said Sakura.

"Yeah, but I won't feel respect for that jackass, byakuugan or no byakuugan." The Yamanaka said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Ditto." Replied Sakura and Naruto in unison at Ino's remark. But the blond wasn't finished yet.

"Seriously, who does he think he is, telling Hinata all that bullshit. I don't care if he is like the best genin around, no one should talk lik-" What she saw made her stop in midsentence and stare. Hinata had just been hit flat in the chest by Neji.

* * *

*Gatsuga ------- Dual Piercing Fang

*Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu ------ Hazy clone technique

*Me tsuchi no Jutsu ------- Earth eye technique

**Author's section**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's section**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO, IT BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**I know it's been a very looooong time. And I'm sorry. But there are lots of new things in my life that just don't leave me time to write. You see, I started college in another city and it's been hell. I'm just not suit to study. I hate it. It's just too different from school. Although living away from your parents is cool, you gotta do the shopping, cooking and cleaning… that sucks. At least I finish my first period of college now, so I can get acquainted with my story again. So, I will write as much as I can now… until I start college again, then my pace will lower again. **

**Also, I think I'm going to focus on this story before continuing with the other I have: Absent. It was a bad idea to start another story while I can barely keep up with this one. So yeah, Absent is going on indefinite hiatus. I hope you can forgive me. **

"**Kyubi talking"**

'_**Kyubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 25

It hurt. That was for sure. She had never felt the whole power of a kaiten striking her body before. Kaiten wasn't allowed during Hyuuga training. Due to the harm it could do, only adults could use it with young Hyuugas that hadn't yet mastered the technique for educational purposes.

Right now, Hyuuga Hinata couldn't even close her eyes due to the pain and the shock. Down there, on her upper torso, she could feel something was damaged. The girl was bent forward. The attack had struck a few seconds ago but Neji still had his hand against her chest. Knowing she'd be in shock, Neji wanted to stay long enough for Hinata to notice what had happened and how it had happened.

Her attacks weren't half bad, he had to admit. She had almost managed to hit him a few times. Hinata had a flexibility that made her body move fluidly, making her attacks twist from one point to another and hard to trace. But it didn't only help her attacks, the best advantage that gave the young female Hyuuga was that her defense almost doubled. She scurried out of his hands way when he was just inches away from hitting her, arching her back almost to an impossible extent. Neji couldn't move that way. At one point he was worried he would have to use his special technique on the disgrace of the main branch until he saw an opening. It was slight but there nonetheless.

It seemed Hinata had grew tired to notice her mistake. Not missing a second, Neji propelled forward, his palm reeled backwards, ready to hit. The girl had only time to widen her eyes when she discovered her mistake when a powerful chakra pulse hit her plain in the chest and into her heart.

A collective gasp could be heard from the few spectators. A cold chill run up Naruto's spine. His hand gripped the rail hard. Everyone knew the kaiten's devastating effects, and thus, they knew Hinata was done for.

The organ constricted due to the pressure it was suddenly submitted to, making it respond by forcing its owner to cough blood. The red substance splashed on Neji's sleeve. He didn't mind. That only served to create an indulgent smirk. _'That'll be it.' _he thought with glee, deactivating his byakuugan. _'Now she won't dare to defy her destiny again.' _A cry from the stands made his attention wonder.

"You can still do it, Hinata!" it was Hinata's boisterous friend. What an ignorant. Couldn't he tell that he was already the winner of this fight? He was about to retire his palm but found himself unable.

There was a small and feminine hand that was now gripping his wrist. _'How is she still conscious?' _He couldn't answer that question when something else about the girl caught his pupil-less eye. She was now thrusting her free hand forward, towards his abdomen. His blood-limit returned in an instant. _'No!' _He tried to block it with his right hand or divert it from its path, but he only managed to catch her wrist. It was now a few inches away from his torso. Unfortunately for the boy, a Hyuuga didn't need to be in contact with his target's flesh to get to the organs. As long as he or she could induce chakra to the attack, it will certainly make a great deal of damage.

Pain shot from his stomach through all of his body. His insides were burning. It hurt so much. Neji gritted his teeth and looked at the girl in front of him. She was looking at him, a trail of blood falling from the side of her mouth. There was a certain satisfaction on her eyes. Then something dawned on him. The distraction and opening, it had been all faked. She had actually put her chest at the open, so that he could hit her, then lower his guard and she could return the hit. This, combined with the fact that she had manage to 'land' a hit on him, make the young genius enraged. With an angry snarl, Neji twirled around, making Hinata's weakening grip around his wrist vanish, and kicked her right in the cheek. The sudden movement made his stomach send a new wave of pain to his brain. He could hear his cousin's body skipping on the concrete ground. The male Hyuuga gave a shaky step backwards and held his stomach with one hand.

Now with an internal injury, his fighting skills will drop significantly. But it wasn't nearly as bad as Hinata's. He could still move… kind of. But with a direct shot to the heart, Hinata was finished. It was a wonder how she could do such a rash motion just after she was hit. Well, it didn't matter now. _'She can't fight anymore.' _He thought with a glance at Hinata's body, still laying on the ground.

"You." Neji said, controlling his pants, to Hayate. "Announce me the winner already." The adult shinobi glanced to Hinata.

"Oh, yeah." He said, still amazed by the fight that had taken place. "Er, the winner of this fight is Neji-"

"Not yet!" Yelled Naruto from the stands, yet again. Neji and Hayate turned towards him, along with the members of the crowd.

"Give it up, boy." Said Hayate with a sigh, or a cough.

"She can't even stand." Neji said with a sneer.

"I think she disagrees." The blond replied with a smirk, gesturing towards a shaky Hinata, who was on her shaky feet.

"Why you…" Neji said with a nasty face. "Haven't you had enough?" Having difficulty with her breathing, the girl shook her head. The older Hyuuga was getting mad.

"I shall make sure you don't rise again, then." He said, Byakuugan activating again. Just as he took a step towards her, the girl held up her right palm, in a 'stop' sign and closed her eyes. This disconcerted Neji, and he halted.

"What are you playing at?" He asked. Neji was taking aback when the girl opened her eyes again, this time with veins around them. He wondered what in the world she was trying. She couldn't possibly harm him if she was that far away. But the Hyuuga genius was proven wrong when a bluish chakra ray shot from Hinata's palm and went across his chest. Neji only knew what had happened only after Hinata's attack ended and a searing pain cursed through his shoulder. He screamed and held his chest, feeling the trail of burnt flesh across his torso.

"Woohoo! You go Hinata!" Neji could hear the Uzumaki's cheers. A few seconds passed. This served for Neji to calm down a notch and lower his head to revise his injury. It had only burned half an inch into his flesh.

"How?" He managed to say after he trailed his fingers carefully across his burnt shirt. As soon as he said this he decided that he didn't care. Hinata needed to be punished for hurting him even further. He ran towards his cousin with rage, palm extended to make a hit. The girl panicked and try to perform another light of chakra. She find it impossible to do it again, since Neji's earlier blow had damaged not only her heart but the chakra channels bound to it, making chakra molding an incredible feat. The only thing she could do when Neji reached her was block his right hand, but her speed had diminished a great deal and she missed his left hand, that had been directed to her poor heart.

A chakra discharge later and fear crept over all of the audience. _'That's already two blows to the heart.' _Kurenai though with increasing alarm, as Hinata fell face-first into the floor. _' _Taking a step forward, the Yuhi was ready to carry Hinata out of the fighting area, but a hand stop in front of her stopped her.

"Not yet." Naruto repeated his earlier words, but they had much less enthusiasm in them. Team eight's sensei looked at him with wide eyes.

"You can't expect her to continue fighting after that!" Kurenai exclaimed.

"I expect her to rise up again." Was the blond's answer. _'This boy doesn't understand!' _Kurenai thought, but as he took a closer look to Naruto, she could see just as much worry as she had on his eyes. Kurenai sighed and took a step backwards, falling into the place she had been standing for the whole fight, but she didn't relaxed. The jounin was ready to spring into action if she saw that her shy student couldn't hold up any longer.

Hinata had begun to stand up again, just after another fit of coughing blood. This earned a gasp of admiration from everyone watching. Neji, who had started to walk away towards the stands, stopped short in his tracks and turned to see his cousin. He didn't want to believe it, but there she was, eyes staring right at his as if inviting him to continue to attack her.

"Stop acting tough." Said Neji, trying to return his face to his usual impassiveness. "Give up. You had tried your best and failed. But you shouldn't be upset. I had expected much less of you. Still… you remain not only a weak ninja but also a weak person. Stop trying to be something you're not. I assure you that will stop your suffering from screwing up every time you try." He expected his harsh words to break her will and finally make her to stand down, but Hinata's eyes didn't lose any of the fire they emanated.

"I won't give up no matter what you do or say." The girl said.

"And I don't suffer from my failings anymore." She retorted in between pants. "I have learned to welcome them as a chance to become better."

"It's funny…." She continued after a pause to regain her breath. "Because you can achieve anything far more easier than anyone, but suffer more than me at doing that."

"What?" Hissed Neji dangerously.

"You can improve everything you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you remain a branch member and that troubles you deeply." Neji was now glaring at her, his Kekke genkai returning.

"You've learn to take out that suffering into blaming others, when we hadn't have any doing on it." She had struck a nerve at saying the truth in his face, and she knew it. It was really a shame the way it had all turned out, and she really sympathized with him. The long haired boy rushed at his cousin with a yell of fury. Byakuugan flaring. Palm ready to give the final attack. Hinata couldn't move from her place, so she just stood still, waiting for Neji to come and ready to receive the attack.

Naruto felt a pang of fear on the back of his head.

"What is he doing?" Exclaimed an horrified Ino by his side. Neji was already halfway there. He needed to act. But she was so far away, what if he wasn't quick enough? The blond turned to his sensei. Kakashi could teleport and that was better than anything he could do. Sure enough, the copy-cat nin was already performing the jutsu along with the other two senseis, Guy and Kurenai.

They all appeared simultaneously, along with Hayate, just in time to restrain Neji whose charka surrounded palm was within half a meter from Hinata.

"Kid, I won't permit you to attack her when she can't defend herself anymore." The sick-looking shinobi said. He was serious enough to stop coughing.

"This is most unyouthful of you, Neji." Said his sensei gravely, his forearm around Neji's neck. The genius snarled as he dropped his blood-limit. Kurenai was glaring at the boy spitefully. She was still gripping his arm rather painfully. But a strangled gasp and a cough, following by blood splattering on the floor caught her attention.

"Hinata!" She said as she left the satisfied Neji behind and approached her falling female student. The other jounins stepped away from Neji to watch the girl. But someone else got there before she could. Naruto grabbed her before she reached the ground.

"You all right?" he asked as he lay her gently on the ground. The blond ignored Hayate proclaiming Neji the winner of the fight. Hinata was looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Naruto-kun." She said as loud as she could manage, but only a whisper could be heard.

"Yeah?" The blond inquired in a low voice. He bit his lower lip worriedly when the girl moved her lips to respond but no sound came from them.

"She's going to faint." predicted Sakura, who had arrived after him with Ino and Lee. Naruto wondered whether that was good or bad, whether he should try to keep her conscious, but Hinata's eyes rapidly closed. Naruto had seen Hinata faint so many times before that it was an usual thing to happen, but this time he didn't think that shaking her a little was going to wake her up again. He stood up slowly, his eyes never leaving her frame. Kurenai occupied his previous spot besides her. She looked so battered. Hinata isn't supposed to look like that, she doesn't deserve to look like that. She's always been so kind. A strong feeling of wrath slowly took over his worried mind. His blue eyes immediately switched to the person responsible for his friend ended up like this.

"You." Naruto said, his voice shaking with anger. "You tried to kill her you piece of shit!" Neji was no longer standing. The other Hyuuga had collapsed to his knees and was taking shallow breaths, a bandaged hand over his burnt chest. But the pain he was feeling didn't stop him from looking up at Naruto arrogantly and smirking.

"She asked for it." he replied coolly. Naruto's rage took control of him. Neji thought he saw a flash of red passing through Naruto's eyes. He immediately shook that away, attributing the sight to his weariness, and stood up slowly preparing to take on the enraged boy a few feet away from him. Naruto charged at the bastard ahead of him, but a strong arm gripped his hand, holding him from tearing Neji into pieces.

"Naruto-kun, I understand how you feel." Said Lee. His muscles were straining to contain the growling blond into place. "But the rules say that you shall fight him on a proper match."

"Fuck the rules!" Snapped the blond, shaking Lee's hand brusquely off him and charging again.

"No!" Lee rapidly caught up with the younger boy and placed both arms under Naruto's armpits, managing to stop him again.

"Stop interfering!" Yelled a frustrated Naruto, as he struggled with Lee's vice-like grip.

"He's just been injured! Neji's not fit to fight!" Continued Lee, trying to calm him down, since his grip on him was weakening.

"So what? Hinata wasn't fit to fight either and still the fucking bastard went for a fucking killing blow!" with newfound energies, the blond struggled harder. Forcing Lee's arm off him, he succeed on slipping off his hold. As the older boy fell backwards due to the force of Naruto's actions, the blond now had the road free to get to the now preoccupied Hyuuga. Just as he was getting within a feet from Neji, Kakashi appeared suddenly in front of him, making Naruto halt in place.

"You are not doing this here." Said Kakashi in an even voice, filled with authority. The Uzumaki's anger was escalating. The copy-cat nin's eyes narrowed as he saw red on Naruto's pupil for a split of second. Emitting a low, animal-like growl, Naruto took a dangerous step forward. He was going to get to Neji that was the only thing he was sure of, and no one, not even his own sensei was going to stop hi-

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled just as Naruto had given another step forward. "Naruto calm down! Hinata wouldn't want you to be disqualified." The twelve year-old boy stood stoned in place. This apparently reached the blond. He seemed to be having an internal struggle on whether he should continue or not. He didn't get to choose what he was doing next because his attention turned to Kurenai's alarmed voice.

"Hinata!" Team eight's sensei called. The girl had cough blood once again but on a major quantity. Sakura quickly opened Hinata's bulky jacket and placed one hand on top of her chest. The pink-haired girl concentrated on her heart beat.

"Oh no!" Sakura said with alarm in her voice. "She's having ventricular fibrillation." Naruto had no idea what that was, but by judging Sakura's and Kurenai's panic expressions he concluded that it was definitively not a good thing.

"Can you do something about it, Sakura?" Asked Naruto while giving a few steps towards the pale girl. Sakura shook her head, eyes downcast. Naruto's heart sank.

"Why isn't the medical team here yet?" Yelled an angry Kurenai. Five adults from the medical team appeared at the scene. Three of them went to Hinata and the other two towards Neji. Naruto could only watch and listen to the medical crew as they lay Hinata on a stretcher. They were talking rapidly among themselves.

"She won't last ten minutes at this rate, we need to take her to the emergency treatment room immediately." Said one of them. An affirmative noise was heard from the other two adults as they rushed to the exit. _'She won't last...' _That part reverberated through Naruto's head continuously. He started shaking his head. His fists clenching. Naruto wouldn't allow her to die.

Suddenly, the blond turned to the east part of the room, where the two oldest persons in the room where standing.

"Where is Tsunade?" Demanded the blond, looking up, as he stepped towards them. Once he was close enough, he jumped and landed perfectly on the rail, right in front of the Third. "She must help her!"

"Probably roaming somewhere around the building." Said Sarutobi. He turned to look at his former student. The white haired man nodded.

"I'll look for her kid, you go with your friend." As soon as he said that, Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Naruto and Sarutobi. The blond suddenly felt great appreciation for what the old man was doing, but not quite enough to forget about his distress for the Hyuuga. He turned towards Hinata was supposed to be, but the medics had already moved her to the emergency room, along with Neji.

"Don't worry, Naruto." Said the Hokage gently. "Those two will be alright." Naruto didn't nod. He simply jumped back down the arena, and directed to where the Hyuugas had been taken.

* * *

Tsunade stared at the sickly Hyuuga lying on the bed. It had been really close but she had finally managed to stabilize her. The medic-nin ignored the admiring doctors around her. She was just glad the kid was alive, but still very fragile. It was incredible how two twelve-years-old had been in the brink of death in such a small period of time. But they were ninja and that was really not surprising at all in their work. She needed to give the news to the girl's sensei. She must want to know about her Hyuuga student.

Yuhii Kurenai, as Tsunade learned was the name from her most recent patient, was sitting on the small waiting room from the tower. Also, lingering against the wall, was Naruto.

"I thought you weren't allowed to be here." Said Tsunade.

"Does that really matters?" snapped the blond, glaring at the doctor sitting on his desk. The one that had opposed from letting him stayed. "Is she alright?"

"In a way..." responded the blond sannin.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" growled Naruto.

"She's alive and breathing but her heart almost didn't make it. Right now even the smallest noise could send her to cardiac arrest." Silence filled the room as Naruto and Kurenai digested the information. The Yuhii was the fastest to recover.

"Will she be able to continue with her ninja duties?" Tsunade took some time to answer, which made Naruto and Kurenai even more nervous.

"I'm positive she can regain her ninja life…" Kurenai closed her eyes, thanking Kami. "But it'll be a fair amount of time before she can do that."

"How much?" inquired the blond.

"A month, probably more." Naruto sighed in relief. Hinata was alive and will continue being a ninja. That was all that mattered.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

"Yeah, thanks. Really." Were Naruto short words, but Tsunade sensed all the gratitude behind them.

"Don't mention it." She replied with a smile. "It is my job as a Konoha medic after all." The tension in the room seemed to have disappeared.

"So, when would be the right time for a visit?" asked the blond.

"Not soon, I can tell you that." Responded the sannin sharply. "But I will tell you when you can, alright?" The answer didn't seem to please the blond, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Now go, you need to see the fights so you can get all the information possible from your potential opponents on the third round." Tsunade said, looking at the blond. Naruto rolled his eyes, but complied. He pulled himself from the wall and walked to the exit. He was about to open the door, but someone else opened for him. It was a white-clad doctor, followed by another one. They both were holding the opposite sides of a stretcher. _'What the hell?'_

"What happened to him?" asked the blond as he saw Lee, lying unconscious on the stretcher.

"Sand nin?" questioned the blond, remembering the red-haired, green-eyed boy. "You don't mean Gaara?

"That was his name, yes. It was an awesome fight. Lee gave his all and almost beat him." Said Guy, eyes resting on his student's form. "But there's something abnormal with the other boy. Not just physically but also mentally… He crushed Lee's arm and leg." Naruto, ran his eyes towards Lee's extremities. His left leg and arm were completely covered in blood, preventing the blond to see clearly the extent of the damage. One thing was sure, Lee's hand and foot no longer looked like such.

"Please, Tsunade-sama." Pleaded Guy, approaching the sannin. "Heal my student."

"I'll do my best." The woman replied, analyzing his hand.

"Thank you very much…" The jounin said, while his eyes rested on his favorite student. _'Fuzzy-Brow's very strong but still Gaara almost kill him… I must be careful.' _Naruto told to himself.

"_All finalists get to the fighting area." _

"Get going, Naruto." Ordered Kurenai. Naruto obeyed and left, but not before wishing good luck to Hinata and Lee inwardly.

* * *

'_So the final matches are gonna be held in a moth, in front of a big-ass audience with important people from other villages, very much like a tournament. The only thing is that no matter who wins, anyone or no one can get to become chuunin, depending on the skills shown.' _Those were Naruto's conclusions of the whole situation, explained by the Sandaime Hokage. He looked up as the old man stepped aside, so Anko would show everyone a board with the match ups for the tournament. Naruto smirked as he gazed at the first match.

_Uzumaki Naruto Vs Hyuuga Neji_

Things like that made him wonder if there was really something like destiny or fate. Who cared, anyway? The only thing that mattered was that he was going to kill Hinata's cousin. The blond forced himself to stop thinking of ways to kill Neji, to see the other matches.

_Uchiha Sasuke Vs Gaara_

_Kankurou Vs Aburame Shino_

_Temari Vs Nara Shikamaru_

'_Sasuke's got Gaara…' _The blond narrowed his eyes. _'The guy is very unstable, I can tell just by looking into his eyes and sensing his thirst for blood. He could even take out some of the power of his bijuu and Sasuke'd be dead for sure.' _There was nothing he could do about that. Sasuke would have to become far lot stronger than he was, and faster, even more than Lee, to escape anything the Jinchuriki would throw at him. _'That'd be the only way for Sasuke to stay alive while fighting Gaara. But knowing him, he'll want to win the match no matter what it takes him. If he tries to do that he will surely be seriously wounded at some point, if not dead.' _Naruto knitted his eyebrows together. He didn't want Gaara to hurt his teammate. The only way to keep Sasuke alive and well was to prevent him from fighting him. Perhaps if he convinced the Uchiha to forfeit… Naruto put that idea aside immediately. The young Sharingan wielder would refuse without a second thought.

Damn… why caring for Sasuke's well being is such a pain in the ass? He would have to talk to Kakashi on the matter. Maybe he can do something.

"That would be all you have to know." Said Sarutobi. "Train hard. We will see you again in thirty days. Good luck."

* * *

Kakashi looked down at the street from the broken window he was standing in. The person he had been fighting against was no longer in sight, he had disappeared in a puff of smoke pretty much like every other ninja. He turned to the only living person that remained on the room. Uchiha Sasuke was breathing into his oxygen mask, still recovering from the sealing technique Kakashi had put him through. The gray haired ninja looked now to the scattered bodies of several ANBU that had been there to protect the Uchiha. _'All killed in less than ten minutes… That boy is someone to take care of.' _

He had been there on time to stop Kabuto from doing Kami-knows-what on Sasuke.

'_Geez Sasuke, I don't want to think what might happen if Orochimaru gets to you again.' _

The jounin waited a few minutes for the medical team to arrive, along with Ibiki and his crew. They both shared a curt nod and the copy cat nin climbed down the hospital stairs. An urge to reach down for his dirty little book struck him but there were more important matters to take care of.

'_Naruto is up next.' _He told himself as he get to the hospital counter. _'Where do I start looking firs-' _

"Watcha doing here, sensei?" the blond's voice reached him from behind. The jounin smiled to himself. "Checking on Sasuke?"

"You got it right, Naruto." Responded the teacher, turning to his student. He hadn't seen him since the prelims of the chuunin exams, almost two days ago. Two very visible dark rings were adorning his eyes. Kakashi had a fair idea of what the reason was.

"How's the bastard doing?" The blond asked as he look at his fingernails with no apparent interest, but Kakashi knew that Naruto did care for his teammate.

"He'll come around in no time. As soon as he is in shape I'll start training him for the finals." Naruto nodded.

"You know who his rival is, don't you?" the blond questioned. Kakashi nodded his head.

"But, do you know _what _he is?" The Hatake's face became serious.

"Yes." A moment of silence passed between them.

"Do you think that Sasuke can get out of that fight alive?"

"I'll make sure he does, don't worry Naruto." Naruto looked at his sensei gratefully. Then he spoke.

"Who says I'm worried? That's his damn problem. I couldn't care less about him." Kakashi smiled.

"Anyways, the Third needs to see you in his office as soon as possible." The blond cocked an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"For your incident on the forest, Naruto." Kakashi said seriously. The blond looked to the ground.

"You mean the fox." Naruto said that quietly. It was a statement, not a question. "How did he know? How did you know?"

"He's a powerful ninja. And I'm your sensei. He supposed I needed to know." The blond didn't say anything.

"Let's get going." Suggested the grey haired jounin.

"Fine." Sighed the boy. "But I need to do something else first."

"The Hyuuga girl can wait. The fox not."

"But-"

"There'll be plenty of time for you to visit her. Now let's go." Naruto glared, Kakashi smiled as he padded the blond on the back.

* * *

The Hokage sighed sadly as he looked at the paper on his hand. The report from the hospital incident not long ago had just arrived. Seven Konoha black-ops had just lost their lives to what he once thought was a loyal Konoha genin. Seven families were going to get bad news today. The veteran raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed yet again. His eyes darted to another document lying on his cramped desk. It had the name of the assassin on top of it. He opened it, finding the face of Yakushi Kabuto staring back at him with absolutely no expression at all.

Sarutobi opened a drawer and took out a big rubber stamp and inked it. Gently but firmly, the old man pressed the stamp on top of the document. The document now had big, red letters all over it. It said: MISSING NIN.

'_Now you're the same as your master.' _ He said to himself, putting away all the documents. He raised his eyes. His guard was knocking on the door.

"_Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi and Uzumaki Naruto are here." _ Said the jounin at the other side.

"Let them in." he ordered. The guard didn't speak again. Immediately, the door opened, revealing Kakashi and his blond student.

"Kakashi. Naruto." He acknowledged warmly. The jounin replied with a respectful "Hokage-sama" while Naruto just Hn-ed, pretty much like his Uchiha friend. Obviously he didn't want to be there. The Hatake shot him a glare, which Naruto pretended not to see.

"Please, take a seat." Once the two were seated, Sarutobi spoke.

"I suppose you already know what you're here for, Naruto." The old man's eyes rested on the blond. Naruto mumbled a "yeah".

"How long have you been aware of your… prisoner's presence?" Sarutobi started, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"Dunno… maybe four months." Shrugged the blond. Sarutobi nodded.

"And in those six months, how was your interaction with the beast?" Naruto looked away. Telling the story of how he was cheated by the demon would make him look stupid for sure.

"We had a deal at first." Begun the blond. "He would train me, make me stronger, and I would give him freedom at times."

"At the forest, was the first time I let his chakra out." Continued Naruto. "I don't know if you know this already or not. But it was against Orochimaru…" Kakashi and the Hokage looked at each other sharply.

"Carry on." Said the Third.

"Well, I got three chakra tails out, and it was all good. But the fox keep pushing more chakra, until it finally overwhelmed me. I just couldn't… it was like I was losing myself." He tried to remember how it felt. How hot chakra ran through his veins. How it felt almost like it burned.

"There was a point where I thought the fox was going to control me… or my body, I can't tell for sure." Naruto's eyes were glued to the floor. "He was acting like crazy. That's when I realized he just wanted to get out. To get out and kill everyone."

"One more tail, he said. One more tail and I'll take over." It was then that he realized he had started to sweat. Sarutobi as well as Kakashi remained quiet. They were trying to digest what had almost happen. That night, the Kyuubi no Kitsune might have returned.

"Naruto, you must know that what you have inside is both a curse and a blessing." Said Sarutobi. "But more importantly, when the Yondaime placed this among you, he meant it for you to be considered a savior of this village and possibly the whole ninja world." At this the blond snorted.

"People sure treat me like a savior." He said sarcastically. Sarutobi's eyes couldn't look sadder.

"The pain the Kyuubi caused is still fresh among the villagers. They hate the Kyuubi. Not you. And hate is something that prevents them from seeing the true nature of things."

"Just give them time." Naruto didn't say anything. He knew that. Maybe not everyone was going to stop hating him. No one is loved by everyone. The problem was… well… no one loved him. He shook his thoughts off that. Shit, why was he getting sentimental now? Damn fox with his damn nightmares that messed up with his mind.

"So, old man. Can I go now? I told you everything about the fox." Said Naruto.

"Not so fast." Replied the Hokage. "There are other matters that have to be dealt with." The Hokage turned to the window.

"You can come in now, Jiraiya."

"Ah! Finally." Exclaimed the white haired man as he entered the office.

"How long have you been out there?" demanded the genin.

"Long enough, brat." Replied the sannin with a grin.

"What do you thing, Jiraiya?" questioned the Third.

"He's got a strong will to repel the Kyuubi's chakra." Said Jiraiya going over a wall and leaning on it. "But that's not gonna work again if he goes mad because of the lack of sleep." Naruto arched both eyebrows.

"How did you know?"

"I'm the toad hermit. My power is immense. No one and nothing can fool me." He said. "Besides, those dark rings give you away." Naruto huffed childishly and crossed his arms.

"You shall make sure Naruto never falls again under the Kyuubi's spell. And, preferably, help Naruto control the kitsune's power." Said Sarutobi firmly. He turned to Kakashi. "I hope, Kakashi, that you're okay on letting Jiraiya-sama teach your student for an undefined period of time."

"Perfectly fine with it, Hokage-sama. I can't wait to get rid of him." Noticing the death glare Naruto was sending his direction, the jounin ruffled his hair playfully.

"Don't worry Naruto. Jiraiya-sensei is a great teacher. Better than me. You're in good hands."

"Yeah, right." mumbled the blond. _'Well, at least he's not a pervert like Kakashi.' _

* * *

**Author's section**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	26. Chapter 26

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Here you go! Another chapter! Happy New Year to everyone!**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 26

'_This sucks.' _Concluded the blond as watched his new teacher peeked at a woman that was bending down, collecting the oranges she had previously dropped, as they were walking down the street. His eyes were locked on the lady's butt and a lecherous grin had crept rapidly on his face. Naruto had no doubt that Jiraiya was shamelessly undressing her mentally. The golden-haired boy looked at the man with disgust. Kakashi only let his mind wonder around the book of his. And his perverted behavior consisted just on a few giggles and a slight blush.

"Could you stop that?" snapped the blond.

"Stop what?" replied the white-haired man, still looking at the woman.

"You know what I'm talking about." Responded the blond angrily.

"Sorry, kiddo. I have absolutely no idea." Said Jiraiya, finally turning his head. The girl had already stood up and was now walking away. "The only thing I'm doing is a little bit of research." Naruto looked at him with a disbelieving look.

"Research? What the hell are you talking about?" yelled the Kyuubi container. "You were clearly molesting that girl with your eyes!"

"I was absorbing everything I could for the sequel of my novel." Answered the man. "I need all the inspiration I can get."

"… you write porn novels?"

"It's not porn!" said Jiraiya quickly, outraged. "It's love taken to a whole new level."

"Yeah, right." Snorted the boy.

"It's only natural that you don't understand… after all you're just a kid." Said the older ninja. Naruto rolled his eyes. He was about to say something but he noticed a man approaching them with something in his hand.

"Excuse me, Jiraiya-san." Said the man who had approached from behind. "I was sitting on my balcony and saw you down the street. I hurried down, wondering if you could sign my book. I'm a real fan." He raised the orange book on his hand.

"I'll be glad to do that, my friend." Said Jiraiya, taking out a pen from his pocket and taking the book from the man. "Always glad to meet fans. What's your name?" The man spoke but Naruto couldn't hear him very well. He was too focused on his book. Naruto tilted his head a bit so he could read the title: _Icha Icha Paradise_ … _'No way.' _

"Don't tell me that you're the author of that shit." Said the blond as soon as the man left with a large smile.

"Don't call it like that! You don't even know what it is about."

"I've read some of it already." Replied Naruto. "And, like I said before, it _is _porn."

"It's art!" Replicated Jiraiya energetically.

"You can say that as many times as you want. But it won't change the fact that it's all about sex." Said the blond. "Toad-sennin my ass, you should be called ero-sennin."

"Do not dishonor the title of sannin with that prefix." Warned Jiraiya.

"Then stop acting like a perv..." Naruto said. Then added with a smug smile. "Ero-sennin." His smiled turned into a grin as Jiraiya became even angrier. The two shinobi continued bickering as they made their way to a new training location.

* * *

The old man took Naruto to a clear just outside the walls of Konoha. It was a big clear, with a small stream in it and numerous trees surrounding it. Naruto supposed there would be some tree stumps or dummies for him to hit but none of those were to be seen. Apparently Jiraiya had a different and new training regimen for him.

"Take off your shirt." Ordered Jiraiya with his hands on his hip. Naruto stared at him for a moment. '_Should have expected no less from a pervert.' _Thought the blond.

"Listen you sick bastard, if you are trying to make a move on me I'm gonna brea-"

"Chill out, boy. I'm just going to examine your seal, that's all." Said the sennin quickly, raising his hands. Naruto narrowed his eyes, but after a few seconds he complied.

"You can't blame a kid for distrusting a perv." Said the blond as he removed his black shirt and threw it aside.

"For the last time, Naruto. I'm not a pervert!" snapped the sennin. "Now mold some chakra."

"Ah! There it is." Exclaimed Jiraiya at the sight of the seal. "The famous ake no fuuin shiki." The blond raised his head.

"Is that how it's called?" inquired the blond.

"That's right, kid. The eight divinations signs seal. It's unique. The Yondaime was the first and last to use it." There was a momentary flash of sadness on the sennin's eye. "It's proved the best to contain a bijuu." Said the white-haired man as he kneeled in front of Naruto.

"How do you know so much about seals?"

"I'm a master of seals. Thought you knew that. Don't they tell you that at the academy?" He asked as he took a closer look at the seal.

"I suppose… guess I didn't pay enough attention." Replied the blond as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, I'm not surprised." Murmured Jiraiya. After a minute or so, Jiraiya spoke again.

"It looks solid, kid. Should do for ten more years." With that he stood up, but first he slapped Naruto's belly. The noise of flesh hitting flesh rung on Naruto's ears.

"Gahhhh!" he screamed, as his hands flung to his stomach to caress the damaged area. "Was that necessary?" Jiraiya's response was a throatily chuckle. The blond removed his hands from his stomach to see a red hand-mark adorning his skin.

"Great…" he sighed.

"Shut up and put on your shirt, I'm going to tell you what we'll be doing." Jiraiya said as he sat down, cross-legged. Naruto did the same once he had his shirt on again.

"So, where do we start…" sighed the older shinobi, as he scratched his head. Naruto just stared at the ground with distracted expression on his face, his head resting on his hand.

"We have a couple of things to focus on."

"There's the Kyuubi trying to posses you again, and we don't want that, so we should fix it although it's going to be pretty hard."

"There's your insomnia, that's also related to the Kyuubi. Je, that fox turned out to be a real pain on your ass, wouldn't you say?" said Jiraiya with a chuckle. Naruto's boring look discouraged the sennin from doing any more jokes.

"I think we should start treating your sleeping-issues." Mused Jiraiya out loud. "You need to be well-rested if you want to tame the Kyuubi, after all. Not to mention all your other activities will be affected."

"You really expect me to tame the Kyuubi?" asked the young ninja, his tone skeptical.

"Well, maybe not exactly make it your pet, but it is possible to the fox's chakra yours." Jiraiya said. "But it'll a long, rough ride, that's for sure."

"…Let's not get ahead of ourselves and focus on what we have on our hands at this moment… Now we'll begin with your nightmares."

"From what you told the Hokage, it seems that the Kyuubi was able to enter your subconscious because you allowed its chakra into your system."

"Yeah, but even though it attempted to get access again, I didn't let him. I returned the red chakra where it belonged. So my body is safe. Why does my mind has to do with any of it?"

"You have to remember, Naruto, that there's a very strong connection between the mind and the body. If something happens to your body, your brain's aware of it. But there are some matters that are easier to deal with on our bodies."

"The Kyuubi's environment for almost thirteen years has been your mind. He knows how it works; he knows how to relate to it. He couldn't get in your head before; he was just a prisoner that could just observe, but once your mind accepted its presence, the demon expanded all over your mind on such a depth he got to your subconscious, something most people haven't got much control on." The old man made a pause for Naruto could take it all in.

"So, how can the nightmares stop?" asked the blond.

"You'll need to reach your subconscious." Replied the man simply.

"How I'm supposed to do that?"

"Well… the only way is to meditate for years, on a lonely mountain, like Buddhist do…" Jiraiya laughed at the sight of Naruto's bulging eyes.

"There has to be another way!" snapped the blond.

"Nop, that's the only thing _you _can do to stop the Kyuubi's influence on your mind." Naruto seemed about to cry.

"But if someone else, a person with the ability to invade your mind, could do that for you it'd be much easier."

"A Yamanaka, for example." Both Naruto and Jiraiya turned their heads to see a tall man standing near them. The blond hadn't felt his presence until now, but Jiraiya did.

"Naruto, this here is Inoichi-san." Said Jiraiya, as he stood up to shake Inoichi's hand. Naruto also stood up. The man looked remarkably like Ino. His eyes where exactly the same, and his hair was tied on a tight ponytail, just like Ino's but it was a shade darker than hers. Probably her father, thought the blond.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto." Said Inoichi with a deep voice. He had a small smile on his face. Naruto shook his hand and nodded.

"I'll help you with your ehm… pest problem… you know, in your head." He said awkwardly. It seemed he didn't want to get Naruto uncomfortable on the subject.

"Thanks." Responded the blond.

"I'll explain what I'm going to do, all right?"

* * *

Naruto was greeted with the sight of his curtains, as his eyelids slowly rose. He rolled over so now he was facing his punctured-roof. It had a couple of kunai imbedded on the surface. This happened due to Naruto's lack of sleep. Once a bad dream woke him up he couldn't go back to sleep, so he spent his time throwing the knives upwards to keep himself entertained.

But thanks to Inoichi and his skills to manipulate the mind, the Uzumaki's sleep remained undisturbed. He felt extremely refreshed. The Yamanaka was able to raise barriers on the Kyuubi container's subconscious. Inoichi was sure they'll work because the bijuu's influence could barely be felt down there.

Naruto was grateful but couldn't help to gulp as he thought what his mind would turn into if the Kyuubi could widen its control. Jiraiya seemed to be thinking that same thing too, and told Naruto that if he wanted to keep the Kyuubi in check, he'd have to avoid accepting the fox's "help".

"_Everything rests upon your will of accepting or not its presence again. Keep that in mind. If you're strong-willed, you're mind will remain just yours." _Were Jiraiya's words.

The blond breathed deeply as he closed his eyes again. He shifted a bit, and in doing so, something moved on his chest. Naruto grabbed it with his hand and looked at it through half-lidded eyes. The aquamarine crystal shone beautifully with the sunrays that slipped through the curtain openings. The blond chuckled to himself. It was weird to have something strapped around his neck since he had never had a necklace of his own.

_-Flashback-_

"_Whatever Kakashi had done to help Sasuke with the cursed seal must've left him in a really bad shape." Said the blond out loud to himself. "They wouldn't even let me see him." It seemed his walk to the hospital had been in vain; Sasuke and Hinata were unavailable for visits. Naruto had started to think the nurses were just nagging him. They probably were, thought the blond. They always have. No one in the hospital seemed to like him. Thankfully the blond was already used to it._

_I'll look for Kakashi. He's a respected jounin. They'll probably let me in with him. Oh! Maybe I'll just get Tsunade. She's a sennin. The staff would never deny her anything. _

_Naruto chuckled. He'll look for her, and he'd enjoy the look on the nurses' faces when they see the granddaughter of the first and second Hokage with hi-_

"_Hey! Watch it!" yelled the blond when his head hit something solid. _

"…_your lack of manners never ceases to surprise me." Grunted Tsunade, her head tilted downwards to look at Naruto._

"_You were the one that hit me." retorted the boy._

"I _was standing still; _you _were too busy thinking about who-knows-what to notice I was here." Replied the big-chested lady, her hands in her hips. Naruto stood a few seconds looking at her with a dead-panned look. Then he just flipped his middle finger at her._

"_Really? That's your reply?" questioned Tsunade, unimpressed. "Really mature, Naruto." _

"_Forget that. I need you to come with me to visit some friends, since the nurses won't let me." With that said, he turned around and set route for Hinata's room again._

"_The girl's still being closely monitored. I will allow her to receive visits when I see her condition has progressed." said the slug-sennin. "Uchiha Sasuke's still out of it, and Rock Lee's still in a very bad shape. I will let you know when you can visit them." _

_Naruto let out a sigh of exasperation. "I hate waiting." Mumbled the blond._

"_I know something that might change your mood." Said Tsunade. Naruto looked at her questioningly. Tsunade took off a necklace hanging around her neck._

"_This is very valuable, not only because it's worth two mountains, but most importantly because it belonged to the First Hokage." She said while placing the artifact over Naruto's head and letting it fall gently on his shoulders. Tsunade's eyes were now soft and cloudy._

"_This village needs people with your spirit. I'm sure Konoha would be very lucky if a person like you were to be its Hokage."_

"_I hope it gives you the courage you need to accomplish your dream every time you look at it." She had now step back. "I have faith in you, Naruto."_

_The Uzumaki's eyes shifted from Tsunade's azure pupils to the clear crystal that reflected his own widened eyes._

_-End Flashback-_

The boy could imagine the necklace hanging from the Shodaime's neck as he first set foot on what-would-be Konoha no Sato. _'I'll protect it like you and the other Hokages did.' _After giving it a squeeze, the blond tuck the crystal inside his shirt.

'_I could just sleep all day long.' _But he knew he shouldn't. Jiraiya had dismissed him immediately after Inoichi had done his job for Naruto to rest. He had gone to sleep at approximately 6:00 p.m. the day before. He agreed to meet his new teacher at 10:00 a.m. The boy shifted his gaze from the roof to his nightstand, place where his alarm-clock rested.

Naruto blinked. He was already an hour late.

* * *

"Can't believe you slept for sixteen hours and you still get here almost two hours late." Jiraiya repeated grumpily through a half-chew anchovy. Naruto was not going to say sorry again. He just continued to eat his lunch.

"Kakashi's habits really rubbed off on you." continued the white-haired man as he reached for another fish from the basket on the ground. "And don't think about that as a compliment."

"Would you shut up already? It's not gonna happen again." Replied Naruto.

"Too damn right it won't." snapped back Jiraiya. "You're spending this whole month training under my command right here on this training ground."

"That means you eat and sleep here. That way you won't be late again." Naruto almost choked on his potatoes.

"You can't really mean that!" exclaimed the blond.

"Oh, I most certainly do. That's the Hokage's orders. I already got a sleeping bag for you, right here." He said, gesturing to a large package resting against the trunk of a tree.

"This really seems unnecessary." pouted the blond.

"Believe, is not. What I'm going to teach you is no normal training. I have to look after you all the time, even when you sleep, to monitor your behavior."

"Remember that you're going to take some of the Kyuubi's chakra without its permission. We don't know how your body is going to take it at first. If anything goes wrong, I can't have you in the city, surrounded by people. This place is at a safe distance from the village."

"What about the food?" inquired the blond, after a few minutes pause.

"Someone will be bringing it to us." said the hermit as he waved it off.

"What if I'm finished before this month ends? Would I be able to go back there?"

Jiraiya seemed to think about it.

"Technically, yes. But don't get your hopes ups, Naruto. I'm not even sure this month will be enough." Replied the older ninja.

"The thing is…" said Naruto. "I've got business back at the village, you know? Need visit some friends at the hospital…"

"I'll think about it, Naruto." And with that, Jiraiya went back to his food.

* * *

"The fastest way to get to the fox's chakra is for you to run out of your normal chakra." Said the sennin. "Pretty simple, huh?"

"So I just have to tire myself out, right?" questioned the blond.

"That's right."

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**." Said the blond firmly. Ten clones appeared in front of Naruto and Jiraya.

"Fight until everyone has been dispelled, got it?" yelled the blond to his doppelgangers. Grunts of approval were emitted from the clones. "Well, watcha waiting for? Start beating each other up!"

"Those clones are really strong." Complimented Jiraiya as he saw them punch, kick and stab each other. "They'd be really useful for recon missions."

"Yeah, I'm awesome." Replied the blond with a smile.

It took little more than half an hour for the last clone to disappear. The whiskered boy was lying on the floor, panting heavily, his forehead dripping sweat. Each time a clone went 'puff' Naruto felt all the damage the clone had received.

"Now, boy. Stand up and let's steal some of the Kyuubi's chakra." Called Jiraiya. Naruto did as he was told, but could only get to his knees before he fell on his back again.

"I'm too tired!" Naruto said through his heavy breaths.

"Thought you were going to endure more." Said Jiraiya as he approached. Naruto had no more strength in him to curse him.

"Come on, kid. Just sit down." He helped Naruto raise as he himself sat down in front of him.

"Now, Naruto, this is not going to be easy." Started the old man. "Now that you can't use your chakra, you're only choice to keep on going would be using the Kyuubi's red chakra."

"But as you have witnessed, he only granted it to you so that it could absorb your mind and body and free himself out."

"You'll have to make the Kyuubi's chakra yours. Strip it out the fox's essence off it."

"Try to take it by force, I'm sure the Kitsune won't like that and it will fight with all its will against you."

"So this is just a mental battle?" asked the blond as he frowned. He would have liked it would involve some kind of physical struggle as he had more experience with his body.

"That's right. But you won't have much time to struggle with the fox, since you chakra recovery rate is pretty high, and your normal energy will rise up again. That will create interference and you would have to burn it out again." Explained Jiraiya.

"This is gonna be hell." groaned the blond through tired eyes.

"Pretty much." Agreed his new teacher.

* * *

"Seven days ago, the ANBU team responsible for gathering information had informed us about Oto-shinobi mobilizing towards the frontier with Konoha. More intelligence was due to be received three days ago, but none came." The Hokage said with a grave voice. "We have to assume something happened to them."

He was facing jounin and black-ops. They were all standing up, listening attentively, their faces showing no reaction at all.

"A new team has been dispatched already to replace the previous one. Since there were no reports of any Oto-nin trespassing the frontier, we can't accuse them of anything… yet."

"And _if _there's really an army that was directing towards the frontier, the ANBU team should encounter them once they are already on our country." He stated gravely. The Konoha shinobi looked at each other. They knew Otogakure was probably Orochimaru's hiding place, and there had been rumors that he had positioned as its leader. If that was true, then a conflict would surely appear between Oto and Konoha.

"I have already given the command for half of the shinobi out on missions to come back. You are not to repeat what I spoke here. The village is not to known." Sarutobi paused. If the team at Oto wouldn't have been killed, as he assumed they were, he would be informed on when the army was crossing the border. The new team is due to get to Oto on two-days time. The Chuunin Exams were being held on Sunday. Today was Thursday.

The Sandaime narrowed his eyes. He was sure the ANBU team would encounter the army not at Sound Country, but at Fire country. Making their way to Konoha.

"If confrontation actually happens…" said the Hokage. "We will be prepared!"

The jounin walked out of the room, their heads still digesting the information they were given. _'Peace never lasts forever, I guess.' _Thought Asuma inwardly.

"Don't think about it too much." Said Kurenai as she walked next to him. "Everyone here knows the drill." Asuma nodded. Every person, shinobi or not, knew what to do if someone attacked Konoha. Citizens would be evacuated to the shelters installed inside the Hokage monument. Chuunins and Genins were to help evacuate the people. The only shinobi among those two allowed to engage in combat were the chuunins, but only to defend the villagers while they headed for the shelters. Jounin, ANBU and the root division were in charge of fighting back. The Hokage was to direct all the operations.

"You should be concerned about how you kid is going to do on the exams." Said Maito Gai, as he approached the pair. "My Neji, well he hasn't been the most youthful soul around, but it is my duty as a teacher to help him with what I can. My TenTen is also helping him out." Asuma smiled.

"I'm pretty sure Shikamaru is going to do well. He needs very few advice of mine, since he's a long-ranged fighter, unlike me." Said the bearded shinobi. "His father has been helping him, so I'm not concerned about him."

"Yeah, Shino's father has been also training him since they know more about bugs than I do." Commented the red-eyed kunoichi.

"How about yours Hatake?" asked Asuma, turning to the grey-haired man. "I heard you got Sasuke, while Jiraiya-san is with Naruto."

"The Sandaime arranged it like that. And I must agree, they're both special and need a special kind of attention." His colleges agreed at that.

"I must go now. Sasuke is really committed to his training. I only get to read five pages a day when training him." He waved to the group and disappeared.

"I really look forward for Neji's fight against Naruto, Gai." said Kurenai, looking at the man with big eyebrows.

"It will be full of the power of youth; I have no doubt about that." Asuma and Kurenai smirked at his choice of words.

* * *

He punched the ground with all his strength… well, with the strength he had left. Training really drained all his energy. Not only he was so fatigued he couldn't stand up, but also his mind was so fucking tired he could hardly think. He had managed nothing since he started training. Damn, is that fox stubborn. The kitsune's anger against him really seemed to motivate it to keep his demonic chakra on the cage. Every time the blond could manage to pinch a little bit of chakra, the demon would take it back violently. The only thing that seemed to change was his capacity to create a couple more clones and still staying conscious.

"_Claim it! It's your mind, that fox should not get any authority there." _Said Jiraiya. But Naruto had a greater confection to his body than to his mind. And the Kyuubi knew his mind better than him. Plus, the time when the fox lend his chakra to the blond, had granted the Kyuubi with more power over his mind.

"_It's just a small portion. You possess far more dominance than him." _Used to press the old sennin. Naruto tried to believe it. But he just didn't know how to make his mind work to his favor. It was such a strange realm. You need to have lots of concentration. Naruto used to have that, but the fox really messed with his mind once he accepted his presence.

"One fucking month." mumbled the blond miserably. "And I have managed nothing." That wasn't entirely true. One time, two days ago he could feel how Kyuubi's tug on the chakra slipped a bit. Naruto could feel how he gain more territory, but as soon as he it happened the fox pulled more forcefully and completely ripped it off his hands. He didn't know how it had happened. Maybe it was something he did or something the fox did. Either way, it didn't happen again.

"That's enough, Naruto." called Jiraiya as he sat under a large tree.

"Thank Kami." groaned the blond as he stood up with difficulty.

"I'm going to sleep if you don't mind." said the whiskered boy as he walked towards his sleeping bag.

"Well, you can do that at home." The white-haired man said, standing up. "We're done for this month. The chuunin exams are in three days, so you better rest well until then."

"It's been one month already?"

"Yep, we'll continue training after the exams." said the man. "Wait, one more thing. Two weeks ago Tsunade send word that you could visit the Hyuuga heir."

"Two weeks ago." The blond tried to yell, but he lacked the strength.

"I'm sorry kid, but the Hokage wanted you to concentrate on this training. He didn't want anything to distract you." said the man, apologetically.

"What was the point? I didn't manage to do a fucking thing." said the blond furiously.

"I know it's much harder when you deal with your mind. But even though you haven't done something yet, you're slowly learning how your brain works."

"I suggest you go take a proper bath and relax." He was still pissed, but too damn tired to argue. So he did exactly what Jiraiya said once he got to his apartment. Naruto took off his dirty clothes and discarded them on the floor. He took a nice, long, hot shower. _'I really missed hot water.' _

After he put on a fresh shirt and his stripped pants that serve him as pajamas, he went to the kitchen and took out two cups of instant ramen, put them in the microwave and once ready, dig on his precious food. One month without ramen! The only thing the ANBU guy brought was fish, rice and vegetables.

"I'll never leave you again." whispered the boy to the hot, steaming noodles. Once he finished he put another couple of cups on the microwave, emptying his cupboard, as he was still craving for more.

"This'll do it." He said with satisfaction, as he clapped his belly. _'I'll check on Hinata tomorrow.' _Naruto told himself as he slumped down on his creaky bed. He let out a loud groan of satisfaction. _'Or the day after tomorrow, whenever I wake up." _ He went to sleep with the happy thought that he could sleep as much as he wanted.

* * *

"Let me try it again." Gasped Sasuke, sweat dripping down the side of his head.

"No. If you try to do it one more time today, your body will suffer a breakdown." Replied Kakashi, as he read his book.

"But I'm almost there, just let me practice some more." Continued the Uchiha.

"I said no." Kakashi said firmly, his eyes now looking at the boy in the eyes. "It's dusk already. Go to sleep, we'll continue in the morning." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but obeyed. He sure got technique fast. As he watched the boy leave, Kakashi thought: _'We're running out of rocks.' _

* * *

"Discharged? When was that?" questioned the blond.

"Five days ago." responded Kurenai. "I thought you'd be the first one to visit her... You seemed so worried." The Kyuubi container had gone to the hospital to visit the Hyuuga. He ran into Kurenai, Asuma and a very sad and troubled Gai. The green beast was there to check up on his student, and Kurenai and Asuma joined so they could comfort him after seeing the still unconscious Lee.

"I was busy with my training." replied Naruto bitterly. _'Damn old pervs.'_ thought the boy, referring to Sarutobi and his student.

"Well, if you still want to see her, she takes a walk through the Hashirama Park on the afternoons." Once the three jounin were gone, Naruto decided he might as well visit Lee.

'_He hasn't woken up yet.' _Mused the whiskered boy as he walked down the long, white halls of the hospital looking for Lee's room. _'Gaara must've been really brutal on him.' _And just as he thought about the sand boy, a familiar killing intent reached him. As Naruto walked forward, the feeling got stronger.

"What's he doing here?" he asked himself. Naruto repressed the tiny chakra he emanated, as he approached the room where the killing intent originated.

**Room 210**

'_That's fuzzy brows room!' _he thought alarmed. That freak was there, finishing what he couldn't at the prelims. Naruto swung the door open quickly, praying that he wasn't too late.

"**Don't you fucking dare." **threatened the blond once he saw Gaara's sand about to reach the bowl-haired genin. Naruto stood rooted on the door, fearing that if he breathed the auburn-haired boy would launch his killing strike.

Cold, green eyes turned and regarded him. "This doesn't concern you." replied Gaara on his low, calmed monotone.

"Yeah if fucking does." snapped the blond, looking intently at the spike of sand that was just an inch apart from Lee's neck. "He's a friend.. kind of. If you wanta hurt him, you're gonna have to kill me first."

"You're saying the same thing his sensei said to me." Gaara was looking at the floor now. "I don't get it." Naruto walk into the room slowly, Gaara was looking confused.

"If you didn't know him…" asked Gaara. "Would you still give your life for him?"

"Sure I would." The blond answered. Gaara was more confused now, given that he answered pretty quickly.

"Why?" The green-eyed boy lowered his hand, his sand following suit, and turned to the blond completely. The matter discussed seemed more important to Gaara.

"Why?" The blond repeated incredulous. He didn't think he needed a reason to save a person's life. It was just instinct probably. A value registered in every human being... Then again, Gaara seemed to lack the human mentality. _'Damn it Gaara, I'm no shrink.' _But since there wasn't any psychologist around, the blond tried to think of a reason.

"Because… I'm not going to let someone die if I can stop it, even if he or she deserves it. I'd only do it if it was absolutely necessary." After he finished speaking, Gaara started moaning. His hands now gripped his head.

"I don't get it." He groaned, more to himself than to Naruto. "You don't earn anything on keeping them alive. They will continue their hating and their staring."

"That may be." countered Naruto. "But there are some people that are smart. And some will even start to like you."

"They never do!" yelled Gaara. He was gripping his head really hard. Naruto wouldn't be surprised if his scalp was bleeding.

"Well, if you didn't threatened with killing them…" started the blond. "They will fear less."

Gaara continued to moan, louder each time.

"And if you're patient, some will start to like you." Continued Naruto.

"They tried to kill me!" yelled Gaara. "My own uncle!"

"I can't relate to that." Naruto admitted. He couldn't keep it up anymore. He had never met someone this damaged. He annulled the weight on his hands and wrists, in fear that he might go berserk.

"I didn't want to kill him, but he attacked first!" The sand genin continued to bellow, there were tears in his eyes. "I wanted to kill myself but the sand wouldn't let me!"

"Just calm down, damn it!" exclaimed the whiskered boy and lunged forward with all his speed, a wall of sand had started to create between the two boys, but Naruto was faster than it and he managed to slap the deranged boy on the face rather hard. Gaara didn't collapse but he did stop his fit, and better, he stopped talking.

"Now listen, I don't have all the answers. I just know that horrible things happen to you when you were just a child, and no one should be put through that." Said Naruto. Gaara was looking at him blankly, the sand fell to the ground. "And I know that if it had happened to me, I probably be the same as you… But, if you could… if you could just stop killing for a moment and try to view the world differently, you might experience the same thing I did. The one thing that saved from the possible darkness."

Gaara looked at him, as if he were in trance. "What is that?" He was able to ask after a few seconds pause. Naruto looked back in his life. Iruka, Sarutobi, Ichiraku and Ayame. They were kind enough to speak to him like a normal person, not like a monster. If it weren't for them, then his eyes would be the same as Gaara's.

"Someone that cared." responded the blond. A whole minute passed a no one talked in that time. Not Naruto, not Gaara and certainly not Lee. But the next words that were said belonged to a brand new voice.

"Why are you here, Gaara?" yelled a blond girl, that had just entered the room. She was out of breath and seemed very agitated.

"Baki doesn't want you running around unsuperv-." Said his teammate, who was also troubled. Naruto knew they were Gaara's group. He stared at the scene, as did his female teammate. They were thinking of the same questions. _'Why is Gaara on the floor and why is he looking so vulnerable?' _

"Are you okay?" Temari asked, his eyes shifted from Gaara to Naruto, menacingly. Naruto couldn't care less about how the older girl looked at him, he was still concerned about what Gaara was going to do next. Gaara turned his head to her, but didn't say a word. Instead, the redhead started to stand up.

"Let's go, Gaara." Kankurou was looking at Naruto warily. Gaara kept silent. His teammate feared that he was about to do something reckless, but instead the auburn-haired genin retreated his sand into its container, and once it was all collected, he closed the gourd. Gaara walked towards the door. He looked back at Naruto one last time before he went. Naruto could read it clearly. _'I'll be seeing you again.' _

They were gone and Naruto could breathe now. He knew he wouldn't attack Lee again; Gaara was more interested in him. But still he was going to make sure Lee had more security around him.

"You owe me big time, bushy brows." said the blond, wiping his forehead. Naturally, Rock Lee didn't answer.

* * *

"Do you think I could get to understand him the way you do?"

"Hmm… My clan has a special gift with dogs, that's why we can get what they're saying. But if you have enough intuition, you probably can."

"You also need to have a good relationship." added Kiba. Hinata bent down to scratch Akamaru behind the ears. The dog seemed to really enjoy it.

"I think we already have that." said the girl with a smile. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"I think he's happier to be with you than with me." Kiba said, looking at the two with a grin. "But off course, you're not the one who has to punish him for every mistake he makes. You just get to play with him."

"Hai, I'm like the fun aunt that everybody likes." Hinata giggled as Akamaru started to lick her hand. They continued to walk.

"Did you know that there's a jutsu that allow dogs to speak?"

"No, I didn't. What would a dog tell you?" questioned Hinata.

"Probably where does it want you to scratch him or where exactly is the flea biting him… that kind of stuff." said Kiba, shrugging his shoulders. He looked at his watch. "Hinata, I gotta go clean the kennels, promised my mom I would." After Kiba and Akamaru's good byes, Hinata was left alone on the dirt road of the park. She watched the boy and dog leave. Her gaze diverted towards a patch of purple flowers to her right. Hinata bent down to take a closer look at them. _'They're beautiful.' _

"I've never understand the obsession girls had towards flowers." Someone said from behind.

"ah!" She knew who the owner of that voice was all too well. She stood up fast too fast to regain balance once standing up.

"Don't fall down." said Naruto, quickly grabbing her by her arm and preventing her fall.

"W-What are y-you doing here?" she questioned once she recovered her balance and voice.

"This is my favorite spot to check up on flowers." Replied the blond, looking around. Hinata cocked a thin eyebrow on him before asking.

"Really?"

"Off course, not!" replied the blond with a laugh. "Do I really look like a person who likes flowers?"

"No… s-sorry." The girl said. "So… Why are y-you here?"

"To see you, off course." replied Naruto, putting his hands on his pockets. "And I'm sorry I couldn't visit you on the hospital. I was planning to but other things got in the way."

"T-There's no need to apologize. I understand that y-you must've been training hard for the finals." said the blushing girl. She really hoped Naruto would visit her, but never really believed he would come. He had more important things to do than see her, after all. "A-Any new jutsus?"

"Ah..." Naruto started, as he thought about something to say. He wondered if he could name his new resistant Kage Bunshins a new kind of jutsu. He decided he could. "Yes. But you'll have to wait to see it."

"I'll be w-watching carefully, then." She replied with a smile. Naruto grinned.

"Last time I saw you didn't look very good." Said the blond, his eyes scanned her from head to toe, making sure nothing seemed wrong. "How are you feeling now?"

"A lot b-better, thanks to Tsunade-sama and the other doctors."

"How's the heart?" asked the blond.

"A bit fragile, but soon it'll b-be back to normal. Tsunade-sama told to keep my head away from stressing thoughts. I decided to walk a bit everyday to keep my h-heart at ease." Explained the indigo-haired girl.

"Good to hear that." Naruto scratched his head. "I don't want to bother you on your walks. People tell me I can be very unnerving, so I better go." Upon hearing this, Hinata hurried to stop him.

"I-I don't m-mind you staying a-around. Kurenai-sensei, Kiba-kun and even Ino-chan join m-me."

"What about Shino?" inquired the blond.

"He is t-training, he only came when I was in the hospital, but he hasn't got the t-time to accompany me." The blond nodded.

"Lead the way, then. I'll follow you wherever you go." said Naruto with a grin. Hinata blushed harder.

"I wanted to congratulate you, Hinata." Said the blond after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"About w-what?" she asked. She had been pretty much inactive during this month, so there wasn't much to congratulate.

"Your fight with Neji. It was pretty awesome." They were getting closer to the Hyuuga complex.

"T-Thank you, but there's nothing to congratulate. Not only did I l-lost but I almost got k-killed." Hinata said this with her eyes looking at the ground.

"You could have burned his eyes with your technique, but I know you're too kind to have done that." replied Naruto. "Don't worry, I'm fighting him on the finals, so I'll do it for you."

"…T-That's too harsh, N-Naruto-kun. There's no need t-"

"If he hadn't been stop, Hinata, he would've hit you. And he knew damn well you weren't able to move." said the blond angrily.

"I-I know N-Naruto-kun, but-"

"Nothing's gonna be too harsh for him." He continued to say as he walked.

"I know that N-Naruto-kun, but t-there's a reason why he's doing a-all that." Hinata said.

"He wanted to kill you! That's his reason! I" Naruto said even more furious. He had stopped in front of her and was looking straight into her pupil-less eyes. "He was friggin' going for your heart!"

"I know you're kind, Hinata, but going as far as to protect him it's jus-" he stopped abruptly in mid-sentence.

"You don't need to hear this." He said, now looking away. The girl knew he was still troubled by the look of his eyes. They were now at the gates of Hinata's mansion. "I'm stressing you and that can't be any good for your condition." They indigo-haired girl, looked down at her feet. Naruto had never gone furious on a chat with her. Hinata felt even more nervous than normal.

"I think it'd be better if you didn't attend the finals." Said the whiskered boy suddenly. "That wouldn't be good for your heart either."

"Naruto-kun…"

"I'll be seeing you around." said the blond, interrupting Hinata. "I still owe you dinner." He forced himself to smile. Hinata noticed.

"Bye, Hinata. Take care of that heart, all right?" He didn't wait for her to say anything else, as he turned around and walked away. Hinata stood there, thinking if he should go after him and tell him about Neji. Naruto had killed once already. She knew he was a good person, and would only kill when necessary. But this time, Hinata had a feeling that her crush had no intention of letting Neji live.

She was flattered at the thought that he was willing to make Neji pay just because he hurt her. That proved he cared. But she knew about Neji's past, and she understood it. If Naruto could see what she saw, maybe he could change his mind.

Unfortunately, Naruto was nowhere to be seen now.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	27. Chapter 27

**NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**It's been so long from my last update and I'm sorry. Nothing I say can excuse me for that. But I'm still here and that's what matters. I made this chapter extra long. Hope you like it. **

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Now with the story**

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 27

Naruto turned and tossed on his bed. He couldn't sleep and this time it wasn't the Kyuubi but the Hyuuga girl. She might not prowl through his mind like the demon fox did (thank Kami) but Hinata's words on Neji. He had his reasons, she had said. Well I also have lots of reasons to kill persons(the villagers, for example) but I don't fucking go for it… that'd just cruel, right? That argument had served to convince himself. He was right this time… and Hinata was wrong. _'But…' _

That word. That word on Hinata's lips and those lips in her face; her innocent, begging face looking intently at his, trying to crack his conviction.

How could someone reach this level of kindness? It's almost unreal? And for the person who almost killed her. She was too damn kind for her own good, just like Neji had said- Fuck him! He didn't care about what he says. And he shouldn't care about what Hinata says, either. She just can't stand the thought that a person is going to get hurt (killed) for her sake.

That's very noble and all but… The blond recalled Neji's smile right when Hinata collapsed. She could as well be dead and he smiled. His hand gripped the fabric of his sheets. No. He definitively couldn't forgive that. Not a chance. Now, the only thing left to ponder about was, how was he going to kill the bastard? Hmmm… a kunai to the heart? Yes, that seemed ironic enough. Just like he hurt Hinata's heart he'd hurt his, only returned by the tenfold. He would stab him until his pupil less, cold eyes lost their light. And all the time they would be looking up at him. A cruel smile crept to Naruto's whiskered face.

'_But...'_

There was that word again. And there, in the still of the night of Konoha, he could hear that word said by Hinata. Just like she always speaks, half whispering half breathing, so soft you had to lean a bit to hear her clearly. His resolve to kill Neji weakened again.

This infuriated him. He shouldn't be hesitating that much, he had killed before and he would kill again. Not that Naruto wanted to kill again, but the son of a bitch had earned it. He should just arrive to the arena and tear him apart, what was so difficult about that?

'_You'll upset her.' _Responded a voice in his head. Naruto grunted out loud. To kill or not to kill? That is the question. The blond had to smile a little at this. Then he cursed. Hours of debating with his moral issues had made him thought up of stupid jokes… Kami he needed to rest. But his mind wouldn't let him.

"Damn." cursed the blond as he got out of bed. The time was three in the morning and he didn't want to train when the finals were only one and a half days away. He changed from his pajamas to just a plain black shirt and a pair of jeans, took his wallet, jacket and left the apartment.

When he had the sleeping issues due to the fox, the blond went to the video store a few blocks down the street and took a movie or two to kill the boredom. He also bought two microwave popcorn bags, because you couldn't watch a movie without popcorn. Besides, it had been a while since he last ate something. And that something was ramen, off course. He had done shopping earlier that day.

"Action first." murmured the blond as he inserted the disc on his cheap DVD player. It was a kung-fu movie, where the good guy just kicks everyone's ass. Not a good movie really, but the blond liked it because he could relate to that. An hour later, sleepiness had finally reached the blond and he fell asleep, bowl of popcorn on his lap.

…

The blond stirred. _'I fell asleep.' _The movie had ended long ago, and the screen now showed the main menu. Naruto took the remote control and turned off the DVD player. He looked over at the kitchen window with beady eyes. The sun was starting to rise. _'Might as well go back to sleep.' _

He stood up, took the empty bowl to the kitchen and walked up to his room. Just as he stepped in his eyes narrowed quickly. Someone was there, watching him. His blue orbits rose to search for the source of disturbance. Sure enough, he wasn't the only one in the room. Blue eyes met green ones. There he was again.

"We have unfinished business." He spoke in a low voice.

"Jeez man!" exclaimed the blond, clearly annoyed. "Fine! I'll fight you but not this fucking early in the morning. Don't you sleep?"

"I don't." responded the redhead in a monotone. That explains the dark rings around his eyes, thought the blond. "And I'm not here to fight you."

"What do you want then?"

Naruto could see that Gaara's eyes didn't have the intention of killing. He kinda looked curious.

"I haven't killed a person in a month." Started Gaara. Sounding surprised with himself. "I wanted to finish that genin's life before continue to someone else. But you intervened and you said those things."

"Your words promised people acting different towards me. But I haven't killed in a month, like I just said, and I still smell they fear."

"Well you might try being nice to them." said the blond with a snort. Gaara cocked an invisible eyebrow. "But that might be much too difficult to you... You should probably start by not promising a painful death if they mess with you, starting with your teammates."

"If you started saying 'thank you' every now and then would be good too, you know what? I feel uncomfortable talking in my room. Just get out of my room an-."

"I still want to talk." objected Gaara, his tone threatening.

"Yeah I know that, let me finish." said the blond with a sigh. "Get out my room and go to the living room." They both stepped out, Naruto turning his back on Gaara but always alert. _'I hope this doesn't take much longer .' _prayed the blond mentally. He was really tired and was now locked up with a mentally unstable jinchuriki.

"Sit if you like." said the blond as he leaned on the kitchen counter. Gaara remained standing. He was now ready to start asking. Naruto just hoped he wasn't going to ask about deep, physiological matters.

"How does someone care for another person?" the green-eyed boy inquired. Naruto exhaled loudly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Right now he wished he had come to fight.

* * *

"He ate all my fucking ramen." Naruto said to himself once again. He was walking towards his apartment, a bag full of cups of ramen on his right hand. "Shouldn't have offered him."

Gaara had stayed all afternoon, much to Naruto's misfortune. The blond couldn't believe how many questions a person could have on his mind. And most of the answers were involved in human moral. Naruto tried to answer all of them, since Gaara seemed genuinely interested, listening to Naruto's every word, and then stayed silent for a period of time. It would vary from one minute to even fifteen.

Around two o'clock, the Kyuubi container was feeling hungry, so he prepared himself some ramen. Out of courtesy, he asked the other Jinchuriki if he wanted some too. Gaara responded affirmatively and took a cup. He only stopped eating when there were no more.

"And he didn't even say goodbye." The blond continued ranting. "Not even a stupid thank you."

"_You have spent so long trying for them to accept you." _Gaara was referring to the villagers. _"And still, they look at you the same way they look at me. You that you can't change everyone, don't you?"_

"_Yeah." Responded the blond, looking at the soda in his hands. "I don't care if the most of them remain the same… hating. But there will be people that not only will stop doing that, but also they'll become your friends. They are the most important… People worth dying for."_

He started a good minute at the whiskered boy, then left. This time he did use the door.

Naruto thought that was some kind of progress. He seemed confused enough to stop killing people for a while… he might even go easy on Sasuke tomorrow. But if he tried to kill him, after all the time he spent with him, Naruto would erase that tattoo off his head using only his fists.

The Uzumaki placed the cups at their designated spots on the kitchen. He sighed. It was nice to think he might have changed a person for good, but hell... he had enough of the sand-nin for two days. Hell, was he tired. Only a few hours of sleep… He would be heading to bed and enjoy some Gaara-free-tim-

**Ding Dong**

…

"MOTHERFUCKER!" yelled Naruto, veins bulging on his forehead. "I'm gonna kill him!" He hurried to the entrance.

"Give me a fucking break!" he screamed as he opened the door forcefully. "Weren't ten hours enou-" His voice died as he saw the person standing outside.

"Hinata?" the blond asked. The girl was petrified on the spot. Being yelled at always left her like that.

"I-It seems like a b-bad time." She spoke/whispered. " I-I'm sorry I disturbed you. I-I'll go no-"

"No, Hinata, you didn't disturbed me, it was something else." Naruto said, completely calmed now. "Come on in." he said, stepping aside and letting the Hyuuga inside. Hinata stepped in shyly, overwhelmed at the fact that she was on Naruto's apartment.

"I thought you were someone else." Said the blond, closing the door behind the girl. "Sorry for the outburst..."

"It's okay." Hinata said. The girl, Naruto noticed, was wearing a white top and dark blue skirt. Naruto had only seen her wearing her ninja clothes... and the hospital shirt and pants she was wearing when she did her heart-restoring walks. So that's how she dresses when she's not on duty. He was sure she would be wearing a jacket, like she always does. But it seemed logical she wasn't since it was a pretty hot summer.

Naruto glanced unconsciously at her slender arms. She looked very nice, he thought. He would have continued to stare… (_'I was just looking!' _he thought defensively) but he noticed the girl's pale hand fumbling nervously at the hem of her skirt. The blond sprung his eyes away from her naked shoulders and turned them to her, while he kicked himself inwardly. Hinata's face was heavily flushed and Naruto hoped that his wasn't but was pretty sure that there was some color creeping onto his face since it felt warmer.

"Uhm… You have a p-pretty home." Said the girl awarkdly, her hands were still busy. She lowered her shoulders a bit in relief. If the blond had continued to look at her she would have fainted and that wouldn't be good.

"Oh," Naruto cleared his throat and quickly looked aside. "Thanks, although it's not much… Would you like to sit? I know you live quite far from here."

"Yes, thank you."

"Go ahead, then." The blond said, gesturing to the coach. "Would you like something to drink? I've got soda, tea, wat-"

"No t-thanks, Naruto-kun, I'm fine." She said as she seated on the black couch.

"Right." The blond proceeded to sit next to her, but first he picked up the bowl he used for the popcorn. "Sorry 'bout that, I wasn't expecting anyone." He said with a cheesy smile.

"Don't worry."

"So… what brings you here?" He was now sitting. Hinata became serious, her body turned to him. Naruto immediately knew what the subject of conversation would be.

"We already talked about this." He said, his good humor fading away.

"Y-You were the one who talked." She was frowning at him, her tone very serious and her eyes looking right at his. Hinata wanted to look away. She was defying him and that was something she hadn't thought of doing ever. But this was important. Hinata took a breath to continue staring at him firmly. She was not going to sound insecure about what she was going to say.

"I want you to hear what I have to say." Naruto was taken aback by the strength behind those words. The girl hadn't even stutter. He leaned back and crossed his arms.

"I'm all ears." He said, although he wasn't happy about that. Hinata's shoulders relaxed yet again and nodded. She started with their fathers' background. Hiashi and Hizashi, twin brothers, identical in every sense since the moment of birth... In spite of that, the elders only wished for one clan head. So they degraded Neji's father, Hizashi, to the branch family… only for being born two minutes after his brother. They hadn't been in good terms, the Hyuuga twins. Not since she could remember, said Hinata. Neji's dad had always loathed hers for that single fact. It wasn't even his fault. Not Hizashi's and not Hiashi's. That was just the way it had been. And they had to live with it, whether they liked it or not.

"Something no one could have helped." Had said Hinata, looking thoughtfully at her hands resting on her lap. She zoned out for a moment. Just when Naruto was about to call at her she continued her story. "The branch family members are given a m-mission. One they have to practice through all their life." She continued, her facial features filling with sorrow.

"P-Protect the life of the members of the main family, e-even at the cost of your own." She recited. Hinata had heard this sentence over and over again, when her father or an elder spoke to a young branch member. "That's what they told Neji, but they had emphasized that he was to protect me and my sister, like a bodyguard. And after that, m-my father summoned the seal upon him." She frowned as she said that.

The Fuin Jutsu, a technique that made a seal appear on the victim's forehead. It stayed on the subject until he or she died and prevented the Byakugan from being stolen since the seal inhibited the blood limit when the subject's life ended. But that's not the only function it served, said Hinata. It was connected to the subject's mind and could cause great damage upon him/she if a hand sign was used. The hand sign was only kwon on the Main family, the girl noted.

"That way they can be controlled if they try to rebel." She sounded ashamed to come from a clan so jealous of its blood limit that had to go to the extreme of harming and almost enslaving their own just to keep it safe. She looked sick.

"'It's your fate' I remember my father saying to Neji a-and all the young boys and girls he performed the Fuin Jutsu to."

'_Now I see the roots of Neji's obsession with fate and destiny.' _Thought the blond as he scratched his chin.

"But that still doesn't justify the hatred he feels towards you." He said, converting his final musings into words. "It's obvious that you would never hurt him using his curse seal. And I'm sure you haven't showed ill will towards him, right?"

Hinata was getting over her disgust now. She spoke again,

"That's right, Naruto-kun. I didn't dare use the seal, nor did he ever show any behavior that would suggest he wanted to h-hurt me or my sister or my father. Even if his father did..."

Neji started to hate the Primary Family when, one night, the head shinobi from Kumogakure tried to kidnap Hinata and that resulted on his demise from the hands of Hinata's father, Hiashi. He came to make official an alliance between our countries, but now that my father had killed him, the alliance would be broken and war would break out again.

"That was if we didn't kill the man responsible for his dead." Said the raven haired girl soberly. Naruto's eyebrows shot up. He had never heard about that… well maybe he had been asleep when Iruka told the history in class… anyways.

"That's freaking unfair." Started the blond, sitting upright on the couch, clearly upset. "They tried to kidnap you, wanting to do Kami-knows-what to you… and Kumo tries to turn the table on us? What the fuck?"

"I-It was an unfair demand, that was clear… but the Sandaime couldn't afford another war to start. We had lost too many lives and Konoha didn't want to lose more… So the council agreed to give in to the demands of Kumo…"

"That is fucked up, why in the world should we-"

"Naruto-k-kun… please, all of this happened years ago." Hinata said hurriedly, trying to calm him down. Naruto stopped his tirade at her words… but his nostrils remained widened and his frown remained plastered to his face.

"My father was supposed to die. His body to be delivered to Kumo…" Naruto could picture the rest. Hiashi was of the Main family, he has the head of the clan. The leader just couldn't die, leaving the secret of the Byakugan to enemies. But he had a twin brother…

"Did they forced him?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure. But I w-would think that nobody wants to die for the actions of others, right?" She spoke in a low voice.

"Right." The blond responded, his head resting in his close fist, eyes looking emptily at his coffee table.

He had a feeling that he wouldn't get any sleep at all tonight either.

"Everything I told you was for you to understand Neji a b-bit, Naruto-kun. We all have issues. Sometimes t-these issues may be caused by different factors and a person might not locate the one responsible. Neji h-has misplaced his anger, but that doesn't mean is not justified. I just hope I can end not only his hatred but the one on the others on the s-second branch as well." She looked at the window.

"I'm going to be c-clan head someday and my dream is to finish the usage and find a way to reverse that horrible seal. Someone's freedom shouldn't be taken away and I want that all Hyuugas can be equals in every sense."

Hinata sighed as she finished speaking. She had said what she had come to say. And she hadn't stuttered that much. The blond felt a newfound admiration for the girl and her dream. She heard Naruto release a long sigh.

"Hinata you sure put me on a tight spot." The whiskered boy said as a hand ran through his head.

"I-It wasn't m-my intention, N-Naruto-kun, I just-" There was her stutter again, when was she going to learn? She lowered her head as she talked, her confidence burning out way too quickly.

"But it's just you standing up for what you think is right." Continued the blond, ignoring her apology. He stood up. "It's almost seven, are you hungry? I sure am. Hadn't eaten in a while." he said while standing up, the previous topic forgotten.

"I-I uhm, no thank you, N-Naruto-kun. I need to head home; my father might be w-wondering where I am right now." Naruto offered to walk her to her house but Hinata refused, arguing that it was a long trek and she didn't want to bother him.

"I'll accompany you to the store, then, since I ran outta milk." Hinata agreed to that.

"I-I'll cheer for you tomorrow." Said the girl, a gracious blush on her face as they finished climbing down the stairs and reached the street. "I'm s-sure you'll get to be chunnin."

"That would be cool." The blond agreed, hands on his pockets. "Maybe then I could start doing real missions and forget all about the Mss. Hinura's cat and - What is that?" He asked when the blaring of a loud foghorn reached him.

"I think is the signal for an emergency." Hinata responded. Naruto's eyebrows narrowed together when even more were activated from each tower surrounding the village. They could see people poking their heads out of their windows with an alarmed look on their faces.

"Why would they-"He stopped in midsentence when hundreds of kunai came flying above the eastern gate and, judging by their trajectory, would fall not too far from where they were standing. Each had a flame following them. Could they be?

"Explosive tags!" The girl shouted, confirming his worries. Naruto's eyes widened. Foreseeing what was coming, he created fifty clones in a flash.

"**Protect the villagers!" **He screamed loud enough so that everyone could hear. They all nodded and scattered looking for people that were in the immediate danger. The kunai were almost right above them. Just as he finished yelling, serious of loud BANGs was heard. The night brightened. Naruto turned quickly and covered Hinata's body with his. As soon as he did this, the explosion wave reached them, sending them off their feet and onto the ground a few feet ahead. They remained there, eyes closed, listening to the windows shattered. A few shards of glass, combined with some rubble, reached Naruto's back and face making deep cuts and gashes.

More and more explosions followed. He felt the memory of twelve of his clones come to him as they were dispelled by large pieces of walls. One of them was aiding a middle-aged man by lifting a wall off the man's head, but once the clone was dispelled, the wall fell free, and it most likely killed the man.

Naruto looked at the direction his clone was supposed to be, and sure enough, there was blood spreading from under the wall. The whiskered kid gaped at it for an unknown period of time, unbelieving. _'He was the fish guy. He was nice to me.' _The man had had a thankful expression just before he died. He had trusted him and because of his weak clone, his brains were now splattered along the concrete. _'If only I had summoned stronger clones… If only the clone would have paid attention he wouldn't be dead, he w-'_

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's scream, along with a tug from his shirt shook him out of his gloomy thoughts. Pieces of wall and rooftops fell like rain. They were almost the size of his kitchen. And a couple was directed right towards them. Hinata was urging him to move since he had restrained her with his arms and he was frozen. If they didn't want to die right there and then (although dying on Naruto's arms wasn't so bad), they had to move. Luckily the blond reacted in time and got up to a crouch, since he didn't had time to fully stand up, and jumped to the side Hinata still with him. They narrowly missed the projectile.

"I'm sorry I didn't react sooner… I…" Naruto faltered, his gaze drifted to the puddle of blood on his far right. _'I killed that man.' _Was what the tanned boy wanted to say, but he was still recovering from the shock.

"You shouldn't be apologizing." Said the girl. "That should be m-me… Look at you, are you all right?" she asked, motioning to his injuries.

"They're just scratches." Assured the blond.

"Y-You call that a scratch?" Hinata exclaimed, pointing to a piece of broken glass sticking out of the back of his leg. Naruto took it out with a wince.

"_Now_ is just a scratch." He said, a bit of his humor coming back. Black and green blurs started to approach to the scene. They both turned their heads.

ANBU and jounin were rushing to what used to be the Eastern Gate, now it was just a big opening on Konoha's thick wall. It was difficult to know exactly how many they were but Hinata estimated there were more than a hundred. Hopefully they were enough to fight off the intruders, she thought, throwing a worrying glance at enemies flooding in. More explosions from explosive tags, but this time they were directed to the leaf ninjas that just got to the spot.

"Hey! You two!" Someone yelled at them, it seemed familiar. They both turned their heads looking for the person calling for them. It was Anko standing on the roof of the house behind them. "What are you doing standing there? You brats need to get the villagers to the shelters!"

"But the enemies are getting inside!" yelled the blond so he could make himself heard. He pointed at newly-formed battle.

"That's why we're here, dumbass!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "Now get going before more bastards get in, we don't know how many they are! Get them away from danger." With that she went onto the fray, a kunai in each hand and an evil grin on her face. Naruto wanted to say something else but his words couldn't get to her now. Yells of pain could be heard now. He turned his head just in time to see how a sound-nin was killed by a leaf-nin, but just as the fellow ninja was taking his katana out of the enemies body, a sand-nin landed behind him and slashed his throat with a kunai. It was so sudden that the jounin couldn't even scream. Naruto was furious. The boy took a step forward, ready to kill the fucker. He would have advanced further if it weren't for Hinata grabbing his arm and saying,

"We need to go, Naruto-kun." Her eyes were pleading, just as her voice.

"But they…" the words died on his throat when he noticed blood dripping from the girls forearm. "When did you…?" he asked, reaching towards the wound.

"This is also, j-just a scratch." She said quickly, covering with her hand. The blond looked into her eyes.

It wasn't anything serious but it made him realize that if he went to fight, Hinata and the villagers would be left with just weak clones to protect them… Clones that could disappear with just a punch or a scratch, and if that happened then they would end up like the fish guy... It wasn't like Hinata couldn't take care of herself, but it had just been a month since her injury…

No, he couldn't go. They needed him. He would fight when they were safe.

"Let's hurry." He commanded to his clones that nodded in unison. "Hinata, can you use your Byakugan?" Naruto asked, turning to her.

'_No.' _"Hai." She lied, nodding her head firmly.

"Good. I want you to watch out for enemies in a 500 hundred meter radius so we can establish the safest path." The girl nodded again.

"**Byakugan!" **She yelled. With her veins popping to sight, she forced her enhanced sight in a circle.

"I can't see any more enemies apart from the ones behind." She reported after twenty seconds of scouting with her eyes. The blond nodded. Some of the villagers looked at Naruto with distrust, but they still stood close by. The cowards knew that it was the blond's obligation to die for them.

"That's great but we'd better stay away from the walls since it's their only way in. Everybody follow us!" they sprinted forward, and the ones who couldn't were carried by the clones.

Now that he had cooled down a bit, he started wondering why a sand ninja was with the Sound. Sand and Sound must have had allied to bring Konoha down.

His eyes widened. Wasn't Orochimaru Sound's leader? Yes, and he must be somewhere leading his men and looking for Sasuke. Wrath started filling his veins. _'If he dared put his hands on Sasuke, or any other of my friends, I'll-'_

"Is something the m-matter?" The girl asked, her blood limit retreating. Naruto didn't respond. "Naruto-kun?"

"Just worried about the rest." He admitted, he tried to push his worrying thoughts aside but found it harder than he imagined.

"Me too." She agreed. "But our people are strong. Konoha has t-the best shinobi in the ninja world with a strong leader. Don't worry Naruto-kun, we're going to do fine." She assured with a small smile, but that didn't seem to cheer the boy up. Naruto's frown was still in place.

"We a-also have two sennins on our side, Konoha will do fine." This comment did change his mood. _'Jiraiya and Tsunade... they are as strong as Orochimaru. They won't let him come near Sasuke. Hinata's right, we might have been taken by surprise but Konoha will stand and crush the opponents.' _

Naruto lightened up and Hinata summoned her Byakugan again, an annoying high-pitch ring starting to haunt her mind.

* * *

"Speak." He ordered without glancing at the filthy sound soldier.

"Hai, my lord." The soldier took a moment to regain his breath. "Unit C has made its way to almost the center of the village, but unit B is losing terrain on the Northeast sector due to the clans in the area, namely the Hyuugas and the Inuzukas, are finishing off our troops; while on the West unit D is still struggling to enter. Unit E and A are waiting your signal to attack."

"We've also received word that the Hokage, along with the other sennins are coming this way." He stopped speaking and look at his leader for instructions.

"You may join your unit." Said Orochimaru lazily, and dismissed him with a hand gesture.

"If only that messenger hadn't been an Aburame..." Lamented Kabuto to the snake-sennin, once the ninja was gone. "Although I did enjoy killing him, but the bugs… they were so many, it was inevitable one of them escaped to alert the village." Kabuto sighed. "Could you imagine how much havoc we could have created if we had attacked on the chuunin exam?" he asked dreamily to his master.

"Let it be, Kabuto, what's done is done but the plan stays the same." Said the long-haired shinobi. He stood on his branch and bit his finger. "Has the Shukaku awoken yet?"

"We're trying, but he's resisting for some reason. His siblings say the Uzumaki boy might have something to do with his loss in appetite… I could go to where he is and force him out." Kabuto suggested as he fixed his glasses.

"No, you're staying with me. My former teammates are with him now, you'll have to play with them while I kill the old fart. Kirima can take care of the Shukaku." Orochimaru ordered while he bit his thumb.

The grey-haired traitor nodded and looked behind, seeing hundreds of Sound and Sand headbands shining under the moon behind him.

'_I'll summon Mala now, and Kirima can awake the bijuu.' _He slammed his palm on the branch while his long, purple tongue stuck out of his grinning mouth, licking his dry lips. _'Just when they thought it couldn't get worse.'_

* * *

"You don't look well." He stated with a grave face. "Take back your Byakugan, Hinata."

She shook her face (paler than normal). "I'm f-fine." But that reply came with a waver on her voice that made Naruto even more convinced that she was not alright. _'How could you let her? She was recently released from the hospital, you should've known!" _How long had they been moving? 20 minutes? 30? Maybe longer, but the Hokage Monument was halfway now. Naruto remembered getting there faster but he had perhaps forty citizens on his entourage now. They had encounter more and more on their way, and Naruto had to summon more clones to help the injured.

"I'm serious. Deactivate it, now." She would've refuse again but she felt her technique was leaving her eyes again (It was the third time the Byakugan was fading). She tried pushing more chakra to her eyes to fire up her jutsu but they just wouldn't take it. Now her Kekkei Genkai was completely gone. She was panting heavily and her vision was blurry. A high C-note playing in her head for the last fifteen minutes; _'I can't hold it anymore.' _ She collapsed to one knee, a hand on her head. The blond calling her name seemed so far away. Naruto put a hand on her back in case she fell.

"You keep going. We'll catch up in a moment." He called to the clones and villagers that had stopped to see what the matter was. The Naruto clones nodded and shouted for the others to follow. _'It's safe in that way. Hinata didn't see anything threatening coming from that direction…' _ Far-off explosions were heard from their right.

"Shit there're still coming." He cursed aloud. There was black smoke rising now. And why is there no one to fight them off?

Maybe they'll just go aid the ones Anko is fighting, thought the blond… right?

No, apparently. Well, at least help was on its way now. He could tell by the many new presences coming from inside the village.

"If we stay any longer we'll be caught in the middle of it all. You better?"

"I think so, just a bit dizzy." She responded in a low voice, standing up. She looked very much shaken. "I j-just needed some ai-" But she fell again.

"I-I'm so s-sorry, I-" _'Why do I have to be such a burden?'_

"There's no time for that. Now get on my back quickly." The blond commanded. Hinata complied rapidly, sensing the soldiers just a few blocks away.

"Now hold on." He said as he ran off, sending some chakra to his weights to shut them off. His speed augmented by the tenfold. The girl tightened her grip on Naruto's shoulders, her head was killing her but despite that the feeling of guilt still plagued her mind.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry. I-I couldn't even hold my Byakugan for twenty minutes witho-" The whiskered boy shook his head to silence her… his hair brushing against her cheek.

"I don't care about that." She heard him say. The Hyuuga could feel how his back reverberated as he spoke. The troops were about to clash behind them. "The fact that you still used it when you knew it compromised your health, that's what I'm mad about." Hinata kept quiet for a moment.

"It w-was an emergency." She said, justifying her actions. "And I just wanted to h-help… Wouldn't you have d-done the same thing, if you could?"

"I would but…" the blond stopped speaking.

"But?" she prodded.

"They're coming!" The blond yelled, startling Hinata. She looked back. They weren't in sight but she could feel them now. They were fifteen… at the time at least. The girl turned her head to the front again. She could see the clones with the villagers now. This was bad. They were just too many to-

Hinata felt her body jerk to the left abruptly. He stepped as fast as he could to the left. Someone had taken the initiative and thrown a kunai at them and Naruto had noticed. They were out of the knife's trajectory now, but the blond hadn't finished there. He twirled on his axis. The boy was so fast that Hinata could see the knife flying besides them. Out of instinct, her hand rose and grabbed the kunai by the handle. When they were facing the attackers she threw the knife, using the momentum of Naruto's spin to add speed to the weapon. It flew towards its owner, and inserted itself right on the Sound-nin's throat. It all seemed to happen so slowly when in reality it had only been a second.

"Fuck!" A few of the enemy's companions said aloud. They all watched as their comrade fell to his knees, holding his bleeding throat while he screamed. In a few seconds he was dead, face on the ground.

"He's dead." Said a kunoichi with green hair, as she kneeled and checked the pulse on his wrist. The Konoha villagers stopped and looked behind, they stood terrified at the sight of armed ninja.

"You little fuckers! How dare you!" One man, the size of a gorilla, screamed in rage.

"He asked for it!" Naruto yelled back. He was nervous as hell, there was no way he could protect the others when they were so many, but he couldn't help feeling proud of Hinata and her quick response. "Good job, Hin." He whispered to the girl, who was even more nervous, up to the point of being as terrified as the villagers. But his words seemed to calm her some. Also, she felt friendly presence behind the invaders. They were still far, though.

"Don't stand there, RUN DAMNIT!" The whiskered ninja screamed to the villagers and his doppelgangers. A few "Hai"s were heard, as they started to run again.

"Oh, no you won't!" Said the gorilla-like man in his deep voice. "Kill them all, you hear?" he said, taking out shuriken from his holster; four on each hand. The other sound-nin followed his actions.

"Let's see if you can still dodge as well when each shuriken transforms into five!" He screamed as he hurled his weapons: **"Kage Shuriken no Justu!" **The sound-nin chorused the jutsu. The night was filled with the sound of metal going through the air. The villagers who turned to see what was happening stood petrified in place when a rain of shuriken was flying towards them. The little light that the moon provided was killed by the passing shuriken. It was like a black wall. Hinata gasped. Naruto paled. His mind raced while his hands were placed in the shape of a cross. _'Five times eight is forty, and forty times fifteen's…'_

"Shit, how much are they!" he yelled. It was when Hinata spoke that he realized he had said that out loud.

"Six hundred!" The girl cried on his ear, her eyes closed shut. Her arms wrapped tightly on him, her face buried on his neck. The shuriken were about to strike.

"Right!" Naruto said as he summoned his chakra. The puffs of smoke were muffled by the sound of the shuriken and the screams of the villagers. "JUMP!" he ordered, and closed his eyes.

* * *

"You can't be serious! We have to go together if we want to defeat him!" Jiraiya yelled at his sensei.

"This old man is stronger than he appears, you should know that boy." Responded the Hokage, who was fully clad in his ninja amour.

"He's owner of terrible jutsus! The whole purpose of us coming here was to fight him, but you've left Tsunade fighting back there and now your want me to leave me behind also, we-"

"Your purpose is to protect your village! You strength is needed in the battlefield, where you can help save lives." Sarutobi put a hand on the toad-sennin's shoulder. "I need to end this on my own. He's my student."

"But the snake! I need to summon Gamabunta to-"

"I have already sent Akimichi Choza to take care of it. There will be no need for you to go there."

"But-"

"Look at them Jiraiya. There are Konoha soldiers dying. You can end the enemies quickly. Please listen to your teacher." Jiraiya stood silent for a moment, looking at the ground.

"As you wish sensei. But as soon as I finish here I'm coming to help you." The Sandaime left with a smile, his guard of ANBU following close behind. The white-haired man watched him go, a worried frown upon his face.

* * *

'_You're not supposed to be awake while I am awake.'_

"**Guess is time for you to go to sleep then hehehe." **

'_No! The nightmares… they are… she's always there.' _

They had done something to him. _He _had done something. Kirima was his name. He messed with his head… and now his vision was smudged with red. He was losing it, and Shukaku's voice was louder. They had never forced him to kill. In fact his siblings didn't want him to kill and now that he had taken a break, measuring all the things the Uzumaki had said, he had put his hand on his head… waking him up.

Gaara then ran. He ran towards the forest, away from them… away from the voice that started chanting in his head. That voice that made his skin crawl.

Kankurou and Temari were after him. He had killed Kirima while he was messing with his head, but his blood only seemed to shaken Gaara even more. He was about to snap. Now he was running, his hands on his head trying to block out its voice.

"**It's time to prove our existence!" **He could feel Shukaku grinning.

'_It isn't the only way!' _Gaara screamed in his mind.

"**The Kyuubi container doesn't know what he is talking about because he has never tasted the pleasure of killing!" **

'_He seems content enough! I want to try that!' _

"**There's nothing as exquisite as blood and death! You know you love it!"**

'_I'm still thinking it over.'_

"**There's no time to think when war has broken out. There's only blood! And it can be ours!"**

'_No…'_

"**Let me out!"**

'_No!'_

"**LET ME OUTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

Gaara fell to the floor, his fingernails imbedding in his scalp. The screams were too much, he was about to lose it.

"You're a weird one."

Gaara stopped his squirming; the voice from his right muffled the voice a bit. He looked up.

"But I can still sense that you're strong." Sasuke spoke calmly.

"Shouldn't you be helping your village?" the redheaded boy said, standing up slowly, one hand still on his head.

"They can manage without me." The Uchiha responded with a sneer. "I won't let this event stop me from fighting you."

"I'm not in the mood." Gaara responded.

"I don't care. I have all the right to attack, after all you're an enemy." The dark-haired genius said taking his stance, but Gaara barely heard him as Shukaku was starting to scream again. His vision now became completely red. He lowered his head as he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked, getting angry. When Gaara raised his head, he gave an involuntary step back.

"You've awaken him." An eye the color of sand with a black figure in the middle (that of a shuriken) and four dots surrounding it stared back at Sasuke's Sharingan.

* * *

Naruto fell to his knees, his eyes were still closed. He was breathing, and also was Hinata. He could feel the rising and lowering of her chest on his back. They had survived. The clones had fulfilled their purpose. The boy could hear the sound-nin screaming in awe at the number of kage bunshins. But there were still fifteen of them. When the adversaries stepped forward he would not be able to protect everyone this time. Plus he had spent a good part of his chakra on that jutsu. His breathing got more labored.

"I gotta hand it to you, brat. That really was something." The leader of the opposite party praised. "But we still have to kill all of you." The blond stood up, a kunai in his hand. He tried to say something but his mouth was dry. Naruto spread his legs in position. He wasn't going to die without giving a good fight. The enemies started to walk towards them. The boy gripped his kunai tightly.

"It's a shame, you know? You got talent, maybe in another lif-" The man halted suddenly, and so his speech. Naruto wondered what was happening, he then saw the reflection of Hinata's teacher, Kurenai, as she stood on a house rooftop. Asuma was standing behind her. She winked at him. _'Genjutsu, huh?'_ The Kyuubi container thought happily, he released a breath he didn't notice he had been holding and turned his gaze to the sound-nin.

The men were staring blankly ahead, like they were in a dream. The dream didn't last long when a kunai covered with chakra pierced through the back and chest of the leader. The guy fell to the floor, not knowing what had occurred. Some of the men released the genjutsu so they could stop the kunai that were falling from the sky. The sound-nin tried to block them, but the glowing knifes cut clean through the enemies' kunai. Everyone was dead in thirty-five seconds. Kurenai was the first to reach him, she seemed very worried.

"What happened to her? Why is she unconscious?" she asked very quickly, walking closer to Naruto.

"Unconscious?" the blond wondered. He turned his head to see Hinata. Her eyes were closed and her arms were hanging loose on his chest. "She must've fainted at the attack, she wasn't feeling right after all."

"Why?"

"Her Byakuugan, she overus-"

"She used that? But the doctor told her not to… Agh, that girl." The Yuhi sighed, her fingers massaging her temples.

"I think she's just tired, plus she made her first kill and that must've been a shock for her."

"It'd be good if a doctor checked her, though." Said the red-eyed kunoichi. "There must be a few in the shelters."

"We're heading there."

"Off course you are. Now get going, we must return." Commanded Kurenai. The blond nodded but before he started running again he turned to Asuma.

"That was cool." Admired the blond.

"And you haven't seen me use these." Asuma said with a laugh as he raised his hand to show his trench knifes. "But your move was very good too. Good thinking, Naruto. You saved all of them." The man said and pointing to the relieved but still scared villagers.

"Can you teach me how to make them that sharp?" The blond asked.

"Sure, but you need to get out of here first." Naruto grinned and parted. Asuma grinned back.

"He'll be a great shinobi someday." The bearded shinobi said, taking a drag from his cigarette. Kurenai nodded her agreement.

* * *

The Hokage faces were closer and Naruto was frowning. He had felt an evil force, beyond the monument. The boy was troubled, the force he was feeling was now taking shape… and it felt like Gaara, but much more primal and ferocious, it was really weak though but the Kyuubi container knew that once its demon started to break away, it wouldn't stop until he had full control of its host. And Gaara was a very unstable jinchuriki. _'I should have known that Orochimaru would use him to destroy the village.' _The blond couldn't believe he could hate someone that much. Hopefully the Hokage, Jiraiya and Tsunade had killed him already.

He was also feeling spite towards Gaara. He spent all those hours talking to him, trying to change his mind about slaughtering people just for fun. Naruto thought he made him reconsider, but now he was letting the Shukaku out. _'You idiot, I gave you my ramen! Once I finish in here, I'll go to where you are and kick your ass.' _But he knew he was being too optimistic. If the blond arrived once the demon was out, he would get crushed like an insect. I have to hurry. He thought worriedly, as a bead of sweat got into his eye. He was beginning to feel his chakra reserve emptying. Maintaining the clones and catching the kunai had taken a great deal of chakra.

Hopefully he could arrive before the demon could break free. The dark chakra was barely there; maybe he could defeat Gaara before he converted. If only the people could hurry up. He looked up. Smoke was coming from the left. That was the big wall surrounding the village burning down, along with so many houses and buildings. So many homes destroyed. Kami, he hoped his apartment wouldn't get destroyed. He wished with all his hear he could go there and kill as many bastards as he could. But he knew he couldn't. He knew his place was with Gaara, someone exactly like him but just way more confused.

Enemies had stopped following them. Kurenai and Asuma had made sure of that. If it weren't for them…

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Naruto spat. Someone had just arrived and the blond couldn't be less pleased. He turned his blue eyes towards the newcomer.

"I have come to fulfill the duty entrusted to me." The long-haired boy said evenly. "The main branch needs to be protected from all danger." Neji said the last part with his lips very tight. The older boy dismissed his Byakugan.

"And they sent you to protect her? 'Cause last time I checked you had tried to kill her." Naruto started moving again. He wanted to leave Neji behind, but that would mean getting away from the people.

"She asked for it. If she had given up like I recommended, she would have come out of that fight unscathed." Neji said, moving along with him.

"She isn't a coward. She won't go down without a fight and she most certainly wouldn't attack someone that couldn't defend him or herself." The blond's fingernails dug so deep on his palms that they drew blood.

"Hinata-sama had that coming." Neji assured. "Nothing would've happen if she had known her place. Know she knows she stands with the rest of the weaklings." The Hyuuga said smugly, looking at the sleeping form of Hinata. It took every ounce of Naruto's will to prevent himself from launching at Neji. Instead he was content to say,

"That scar on your chest proves she's no weakling." The blond glanced at the thick scar that could be seen right above Neji's shirt collar. The fight caught the older boy in his tunic, which didn't quite cover the part below his neck. Neji's eyes turned colder.

"I shall carry that burden for you." He was trying to steady his voice but didn't quite make it, since it came very tense.

"You call her that again and I'll rip your tongue from your mouth!" The whiskered boy growled. He meant every word he spoke. This caused Neji to conjure a small smirk.

"You shouldn't threaten with things you can't accomplish." Sneered the older Hyuuga.

"I can do that and much more. Too bad that we can't fight tomorrow 'cause I was sooo looking forward to it." The blond spoke through clenched teeth.

"We can fight whenever you see fit. I also wanted to fight you, you seem like you could give an interesting fight instead from the losers I had to put up with." His pupil-less eyes were drawn at Hinata while he spoke. Naruto noticed. If it weren't for Hinata the blond would have launched himself at him.

"You may be strong Hyuuga but you need to stop blaming the shitty stuff that's happen in your life to her." Neji's smile immediately left his face.

"Don't talk about things you know nothing of." He spoke slowly.

"I know everything. She told me. You're just a cowards who blames the wrong person."

"I blame the right people! Their branch! If you want to call someone a coward is the people at the main branch! They're too afraid to die so they take the second branch members' freedom to protect them. They're so afraid the send servants to death… sent my father to death!" Neji's Byakugan had activated while he said that. Naruto turned his head. That was an argument hard to fight. They had already gotten to the stairs that led to the shelters on the monument, hundreds o citizens were climbing it and entering the caverns. They started climbing.

"She's different from them." The blond started. "You know it. Stop acting as if she had taken part on his death."

"She's one of them." The older shinobi replied. "Hinata'll be clan head in the future and she'll have branch members' fate decided by this bloody seal!" Neji pointed at his forehead.

"You're wrong! She cares for the rest of them and she cares for you!" Naruto yelled. "Hinata came to talk to me out of killing you. She understands your situation."

"She'll never u-"

"AND" the blond interrupted. "She wants to find a way of taking that seal off and ban its usage."

That seemed to close Neji's mouth. The boy stopped dead on his tracks. Naruto also halted his steps. The blond looked at him for a while. Neji recovered his voice.

"She can't. It's impossible and…and even if she could the elders wouldn't allow it." Neji assured.

"Well I believe in her. I know she'll find a way." Naruto turned around and said, "You should stop being a dick to someone that's trying to help you." And without waiting for Neji's reply he went after the villagers, towards the first entrance. Neji stood rooted on the spot, his mouth open.

* * *

"To create a jutsu like this… how rotten is your soul at this point?" The Sandaime Hokage asked his opponent. Most of his bewilderment had passed and he was now staring at Orochimaru's gleeful eyes.

They were surrounded by a purple wall of chakra. The field had the form of a triangle with plenty of space to fight. It had been cast by four of Orochimaru's henchmen, one at each corner. If someone touched the field, a flame appeared on the skin and it expanded until the whole body was on fire. How did Sarutobi knew that? Well, one of his ANBU guards had charged at the wall. Now he was just a heavily burned corpse on the forest ground.

He was now staring at the three new figures that had appeared from within three coffins. He had passed his initial shock but he was still nervous. Looking at three Hokage, who should be dead, in the eye didn't bring a pleasant feeling. Especially when two of those three had been, at some point in his life, his teachers.

"What ssssoul?" Hissed Orochimaru with a large and disturbing smile.

'_This might possibly be my last fight.' _Thought Hiruzen Sarutobi as he summoned his chakra.

* * *

"It's hard to believe such emotion can be put in words." Kakashi said calmly after he drew his kunai from the oto-nin's chest. With a quick movement of his wrist he wiped out the blood that was coating the knife. "It draws me to the whole plot and makes it difficult to think of something else." He continued without giving a second thought about the man he had just killed.

"I'm surprised copy cat Kakashi is a fan of my books." Jiraiya responded as he slashed another ninja in the face with his short blade. The man screamed in agony but was soon silenced as Jiraiya's weapon passed through his stomach and reached his back.

"It's hard to ignore good literature." Kakashi kicked a shinobi that was about to let his katana fall down on the grey-haired jounin's back. The attacker was thrown several feet backwards. He crashed against a wall and remained on the floor.

"Then you'll be glad to hear that I'm planning to make a sequel." He broke a sand shinob's neck with a round kick. The Hatake almost let his kunai fall to the ground at the news. He recovered his cool after a moment.

"That's good news Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi said joyfully.

"It'll be a couple of years before it's out, though."

"I'm sure it'll be worth the wait." Replied the masked man, his tone a little disappointed. He looked around. "We're almost finished here. There are only a hundred men. Hundred and fifty tops."

Jiraiya nodded.

"Let's get this over with." The white-haired sennin took out two tiny scrolls. "Everyone, please fall back."

The Konoha shinobi obeyed immediately, not daring to question a sennin. The foes were taken back, confused at what was happening, so they halted moment. That moment was all Jiraiya needed. He looked where most of the enemies were congregated and threw them high.

"Kai!" he screamed with a hand gesture just when the scrolls were right above the intruders. The scrolls started to release a great quantity of black oil. The enemies were drenched with it. _'Kami, I hate sound-nins.' _He thought before speaking again:

"**Katon: Karyuu Endan!" **He drew all the breath his lungs could manage. His chest inflated so much it started to hurt. The enemies only knew what had happened when the immense heat go to them. The Konoha ninjas stood in awe, listening to the enemies' cries. Most of them would have nightmares for several weeks about burning figures, hollering and running in circles.

There were a few ninjas that puked, either at the sight or at the new aroma rising in the night. The intoxicating smell of burning hair and skin.

Most of the cries subdued after a minute. There were still people on the floor, the ones that the oil just reached a limb or two. They were moaning, waiting to be finished by the Konoha ninja. Some of them even pleaded to die.

"That was a bit harsh, Jiraiya." Said Tsunade's voice from behind.

"This is war. That's what they get for attacking the village." Jiraiya responded, his eyes cold as he looked at the few survivors that were fleeing the battlefield. Tsunade chuckled.

"Let's go to sensei." Jiraiya spoke. He turned to Kakashi, who had put aside his weapon and had his hands on his pockets. "I leave you in charge, boy. Try to clean this up and... a-and…" His eyes widening.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked as he turned to see what Jiraiya was looking at. The Sharingan user paled. There was a figure a bit beyond the Hokage Monument. It was so big that Kakashi could clearly tell that it had a tale and pointy ears despite the distance. His voice was lost in his throat.

"T-That's the Shukaku!" Tsunade exclaimed. She too, looked terrified.

"That bastard! He wants to unleash a bijuu in the city!" Jiraiya cried in outrage.

"What should we do?" The golden-haired sennin asked.

"You go help the Hokage, I'll deal with the demon." The toad hermit ordered. Tsunade hesitated for a moment but nodded at last, and went in the opposite direction of the tailed beast. She still looked back a few times, concern all over her face.

Jiraiya hurried to the Hokage Monument with all the speed he was able of. This was serious, the Shukaku only cared about killing. He could annihilate all the villagers and shinobi easily. As he ran through the village, he started feeling another presence. It was tiny but it was there, powerful. He only hoped it was Naruto that was controlling it and not the Kyuubi.

* * *

Naruto remembered he had arrived just in time to save Sasuke from being crushed by Gaara's sand-made claws. The Uchiha had been incapable to dodge, and it wasn't for his broken wrist. The blond guessed it had something to do with the markings that had appeared on his teammate's skin again. But that was a problem he had no time worrying about. There was a bigger situation going on. Gaara was the situation, and he was acting like a crazy man. He had a tail and two black colored-creases on his forehead that looked like a pair of ears, everything made of sand. He resembled somehow a raccoon. A very ugly raccoon that was salivating all over the forest and had weird, yellow pupils.

This is so bad. The whiskered kid remembered saying. His suspicions were confirmed at Kankurou and Temari gasping and planning to run if it got more serious. How could _that _get more serious? Naruto would found out shortly after. He had started talking to Gaara about their conversations, trying to get some reason on his tattooed head. At first it seemed to work, but the demon inside the son of the Kazekage seemed to be talking to him too, and thus confusing the boy. Crazy as Gaara was at the time, he couldn't deal with the confusion for long and started to bang his head on a branch. After a while he fell unconscious.

When the blond thought it was all over. Just in time also, since his chakra had just ran out. He was thankful he only ended with a few cuts on his face and arms, from Gaara's sand shurikens and a few bruises. Suddenly there was a wave of enormous chakra that came from Gaara. While Naruto wondered what was happening Gaara's siblings fled the scene as quick as they could. Then he heard a familiar voice in his head. **'Shukaku's awoken now that the kid isn't conscious. At least he can get some sleep while Shukaku is out' **The blond ignored the dark chuckles of the fox. In the span of the blink of an eye Gaara transformed into a large scale raccoon and Naruto was standing on his dirty back.

The raccoon started bellowing and Naruto had to cover his ears as he felt they were going to start bleeding. The Shukaku had awoken, the blond could tell because it wasn't Gaara's voice speaking and because the demon was screaming gleefully that he was 'free at last'. That's when the blond got really worried. But not was worried when the demon took notice of his presence on his back. Naruto almost pissed himself when the tremendously large tail was sent crashing over him.

Before it hit, the blond turned looking for the Kyuubi's chakra. He was so grateful when he felt it flowing through his body. This time he didn't feel his fangs grow nor his whiskers deepen. This was him making Kyuubi's chakra his. The Uzumaki summoned it at the same time the tail fell on him. He pushed his hands upwards, against the tail. His teeth almost chattered at the impact, his spine almost broke. But thankfully they didn't. The blond's feet dug a meter on the Shukaku's back.

While he was there, supporting the tail's weight with his hands, he caught a glimpse of Gaara's hair. Naruto called for him, but he didn't answer. A movement from the Shukaku made Gaara's body turned around a few degrees. Just enough for Naruto to see the boy with his eyes closed.

He was asleep, just as Kyuubi had said. The demon had also said that the Shukaku awakes when Gaara's mind was resting.

"I'll have to wake him then." When Shukaku retreated his tail, the blond made a run for it. With a whole new level for his speed he crossed the monster's back rapidly, dodging the spikes of sand that came of the bijuu's back. One of them pierced through his foot. The blond yelled in pain, and stopped only to get his foot out of the spike. He did his best to ignore the pain and continued to run.

He was just a few feet from Gaara's body. Half his body was buried on the Shukaku's forehead. His upper body was left dangling as the demon moved. Naruto readied his fist to connect with Gaara's face.

"**No!" **the monster screeched into the night and sent his sand hovering to the blond to hold him in place just before he hit Gaara. Naruto was held just a few inches away from his fellow jinchuriki from both his arms and one of his leg. The sand started to drain his chakra, and the orange chakra coat he had been wearing disappeared.

The golden haired boy cursed loudly. He was so close. The sand started to close into his limbs, making them hurt. Naruto grunted. He heard a 'crack' from his right hand and leg. _'I'm gonna die if I don't do something!' _

With his last strength, Naruto pulled his neck backwards with all his might, then threw his head forward. His headband made contact with Gaara's forehead. The redhead grunted in pain, his sleep-deprived eyes opening. The Shukaku started screaming as he slowly shrunk to nothing more than a grain of sand. Gaara's and Naruto's eyes were locked the entire time as they fell freely through the canopy.

Pain came for both of them as they crashed through endless branches and finally the hard, unforgiving ground. Gaara's sand didn't come to his aid soon enough.

Gaara was breathing hard, his eyes facing the sky. Naruto was in a similar position several feet away from him. They couldn't face each other but still the blond spoke.

"I don't blame you for doing what you've done to me and to my friend." Naruto started, his voice very weak. "But I won't allow you to do it again."

Gaara listened in silence, his eyes turning to Naruto.

"You need a friend to stop all the confusion." Naruto breathed and spat some blood to his side. "I can be that friend… and you can gain more if you just stopped."

"That way… That way you can make the pain go away." Naruto heard Gaara's brother and sister arrive and take him away. He could feel the boy's green eyes on him all the time. Naruto passed out just before Jiraiya arrived.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	28. Chapter 28

**NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Finally! Here you go. Happy Holidays! **

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 28

"It had to be that weird chakra." Said Sasuke, looking at his feet, a hand on his chin. He was sitting on a bench facing the Hokage tower. They were waiting for their sensei.

"Maybe it was just a new ninjutsu of his, Sasuke-kun." The pink-haired kunoichi suggested. She was standing up, facing the park.

"It was not! The nature of his energy changed entirely. It wasn't his! I know his energy. No kind of jutsu could change a person's chakra that much…" His voice lowered. He had dark rings under his eyes. His pride was still wounded from Naruto saving him.

If it weren't for Orochimaru's curse seal, he could've continued fighting or at least moving. Damn the snake. He hated the traitor but he wasn't the only person he was mad with.

He was also bothered at whatever the blond did to defeat the Shukaku. Naruto had never shown that level of strength before. And that made the raven-haired boy wonder if he had been holding back. If this was true, then Sasuke would get really pissed at his blue-eyed teammate.

'_Since when had you been hiding that power, Naruto?' _The boy gritted his teeth, while Sakura watched from aside.

'_Sasuke-kun…'_

The Uchiha was troubled, she could tell. He was even voicing out his musings. _'He used the Kyuubi's chakra again.' _The girl looked beyond the Monument; where she, like most of the shinobi and a few villagers(the ones that hadn't been in the shelters), had seen the Shukaku.

She had been afraid at the monster and its chakra, but her fear reached new limits when the fox's energy appeared. Sakura immediately recalled his pointed fangs and nails, the deepened whiskers and those blood red eyes. The Haruno felt the hair of her neck stand on end at the sole thought of that memory. She still had nightmares about his slitted pupils.

Despite his appearance, Naruto hadn't act out of normal. And everything had worked out OK, both on the forest and against Shukaku. But she still felt afraid of him, and she was ashamed of that. He had saved Sasuke, he was himself. He wasn't dangerous…

'_But those demon's eyes…'_

"It was someone else's. But that 's impossible, isn't it?" Sasuke spoke.

"Uh huh." She said in a daze.

"Sakura!" she jumped a bit at the sound of her name. Her head turned back to Sasuke.

"sorry." She apologized, lowering her head a little, not at all unlike her Hyuuga friend. "I guess I'm still tired from yesterday's work.

Sasuke glared at her.

"That was not even remotely normal." He continued, standing up and walking closer towards her. Sakura tensed. "If you know something you must tell me, Sakura."

He looked rather desperate of knowing. _'Would he feel better if I told him? Or would that just messed everything up?' _The girl looked at his beautiful onyx eyes for a brief moment. She fought the urge to swallow.

"How could I know what it was? I wasn't even there." She answered; trying not to give in to Sasuke's searching eyes. After what appeared like an eternity for the girl, Sasuke turned around and sighed.

"Don't tell him I've been wondering about this." Sasuke said, looking at Kakashi as he exited the building with a scroll on his hand.

"I won't." The genin assured as their sensei approached. The girl fought back a smile; She felt honored that Sasuke had confided his thoughts and worries to her.

"Now that the southern sector has been cleaned up you can start the construction of the new houses…" the jounin started, looking at the writings on the scroll. "You'll help with the footings, all right?"

"We need to cover four houses today..." The jounin informed.

"When is Naruto joining us?" Sakura piped up.

"As soon as he is fully healed." Responded Kakashi, smiling at Sakura's concern.

"He looked fine yesterday." The girl continued.

"It's all up to his doctor." The girl nodded.

"C'mon I'll show you your site of work." The grey-haired man said with a smile. Kakashi's assignment had been corpse retrieval along with the Inuzukas and other shinobi. Kakashi's dog summons and the Inuzukas' nin-dogs helped locating the bodies. It was a nasty job but someone had to do it before they rotted.

They'd found a couple hundred corpses already and when Kakashi thought there wouldn't be more, the dogs kept finding the scents of more dead flesh. Few were found each day, and Kakashi had the feeling that today they would find the last corpse on the entire village.

They needed to fetch them for the funeral for fallen that was to be held tomorrow.

The three Konoha shinobi began to work.

* * *

Naruto was wearing black pants and shirt, just like everyone around him. Iruka was behind him and Konohamaru was on his left. They weren't members of any clan so they stood with the villagers and other common shinobi. The family clans were nearest to the stage on neat rows.

The Akimichi clan was in between the Naras and the Yamanakas. Next to them were the Inuzukas. The Hyuugas and the Aburames listened solemnly at the speech, the only one showing any kind of emotion was Hinata, who had to wipe a tear every minute or so. At last was the Uchiha clan, where Sasuke stood, no one around him.

It must be really hard, Naruto thought, being the last member of such an influencing clan. People must expect really great things from him. No wonder he smiled so little. Anyone would be as uptight as he is if one had all the village looking at you, expecting one to do great feats and maintain the Uchiha clan's reputation impeccable… well, as impeccable as it could be after one member of the main family butchered the whole clan.

'_That's a heavy load you have there, teme.' _Mused the blond as he regarded the black haired boy straightening up. _'But you still need to learn to laugh sometimes.' _After saying that the whiskered boy wondered if that was even possible. Sasuke's face looked like it wasn't meant to stretch; he could barely smile, he doubted he had the capability to grin. That would rip his cheeks off or something. That thought would make him laugh any other day, but at the present moment the blond couldn't make himself smile.

He took his mind off the skinny genius and led it to more important things, like the photograph standing on top of a cheap looking coffin. Behind the glass was the plump face of the fish-seller. The one Naruto had tried to save, but failed as his clone vanished, letting the wall crack his body open. The blond swallowed hard. During his time at the hospital, sleep was a tough feat since the night of the attack kept repeating on his mind. It had all happened in less than a minute. First his clone was holding the piece of concrete over his head, the guy looked like he wanted to say 'thank you' but before he could think anything, the Naruto doppelganger dispelled as a shard of wood impaled itself on the clone's head. The next thing that followed was a crunching sound; the blond knew it was the noise of bones being shattered.

Kousu had been his name, and Naruto had found the picture as soon as he stood on his spot on the street; his eyes had been drawn directly to the photograph. It was like the ghost of the man wanted him to know where he lay. He couldn't help to think the state of the body that was enclosed within the coffin. And it is my fault. Not being able to stare anymore, Naruto turned his head brusquely to the right, forcing himself away from his accidental victim… but his victim none the less.

His eyes came to rest on the biggest photograph. One of a serious looking Sarutobi. The funeral was meant for the fallen in the attack, but the late Hokage was the person which was being honored the most. Sarutobi's old teammate had said a few words and now was Jiraiya's turn to speak. He didn't look too comfortable about the idea but Tsunade gave him a light shove for him to start. Naruto thought they should have chosen another photograph, with the late Hokage smiling warmly or his mouth wide open as he shouted to someone (mainly Naruto); that would have shown the Sandaime as he knew him.

The news had taken Naruto out of guard as he never imagined the Hokage would die. Sarutobi's death left the village with no leader and left Naruto without the person he considered his grandfather. He had been the one to always scold, cheer or calm Naruto, apart from Iruka. And even after his death, the old man seemed to know exactly what Naruto was thinking. Naruto thought he could hear Sarutobi's voice talking at him while he stared at his picture.

"_You can't always save everyone. The only thing you _can _do is do your best." _

The blond felt his knees start to shake and his eyes start to water ever so slightly. _'How is it that you know always what to say, huh you geezer?' _The blond shut his eyes tightly, trying to stop the water leak. He didn't want to make a scene in front of the whole village, but his emotions were getting the best of him…

Iruka turned his head as soon as he heard someone sobbing at his side. His eyes softened at the sight of Konohamaru covering his eyes with his forearm. He couldn't hold it anymore, it seemed. Heads started to turn as a loud cry escaped his throat. Iruka stretched his hand towards the kid's shoulder, but Naruto was faster. The blond placed his hand on the little boy's shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

The late Hokage's grandson didn't bother to look as he continued to emit shaking sobs. Iruka smiled at the Kyuubi container. The blond had sobered up and was now looking at the ground, his hand moving as Konohamaru shook. Suddenly the kid pivoted in place and hurried to bury his face on Naruto's lower chest. Taken aback, the blond turned to Iruka for advice; the scarred teacher just smiled. Hesitantly, the blond wrap an arm around the boy. Konohamaru kept on crying, but Naruto felt his shoulders relaxing a little. The whiskered boy tightened his grip around the kid's body.

A bigger smile formed on the man's face as he muttered, "We'll be okay." He then turned his head to Sarutobi's face on the Hokage Mountain. The two boys kept mourning together.

* * *

Naruto frowned. Someone was kicking at his side. He rolled on his futon, away from the devil that wanted to wake him from his nightmare-free sleep.

"Damn kid." The blond heard the devil curse.

"Go away." The boy grunted against his pillow. The person seemed to obey, since there were steps getting away from him. Naruto sighed contently as he tried to go back to sleep. He frowned when the man stepped to him again.

"I'm not saying it again, go a- WAH!" the blond sat up in a flash, spluttering as he tried to get the cold water out of his eyes and nostrils.

"The hell?" He asked in an outraged manner. Jiraiya smirked at the boy.

"Get ready, the new Hokage is assigning you to your duties in fifteen minutes." Jiraiya turned away from the boy towards the mini fridge. _'Damn.'_ The blond cursed mentally as he rubbed his eyes. He had missed the coronation of the Godaime Hokage.

"Who is the new Hokage?"

"Go and find out for yourself. And hurry, I don't think the Hokage would like if you were late." The white haired man said as he grabbed a small bottle of sake. "Where are the damn cups?" The blond shrugged as he got to his feet. The war had left his apartment without a roof and two walls, but since he had saved so many neighbors they had offered to rebuild his home. Being gladly surprised the blond let them (not that he had a choice, the villagers were determined to help back the boy who had saved their lives). After leaving the hospital his home wasn't ready yet, so Jiraiya offered Naruto the chance to stay with him in his hotel room while the people finished. Naruto had no intention of living in the shelters with the people who had become homeless.

"I'm gonna get ready." The blond announced the Jiraiya who had stopped looking for the cups and was now drinking the sake directly from the bottle.

"You're late." Stated the newly appointed Hokage sitting on the center chair of the Mission Delivery Office.

"But only for half an hour. The important thing is that I'm here, right granny?"

The chuunins that were working on their paperwork stopped writing and lifted their eyes to see who had dared insult the new Konoha leader. A loud grunt was heard from Iruka, placed two seats away from Tsunade.

"Didn't I teach you anything, Naruto? I swear to Kami you are the most disrespectful person on the country." Iruka fumed. Naruto smirked, good old Iruka.

"I agree." The Godaime spoke, her lips a very thin line. "I don't have time to argue with you today, brat, so just shut your trap for a minute so I can tell you what you're going to do."

The blond didn't say anything but kept his smile. He couldn't describe how happy he was when he found out who the new Hokage was. Tsunade was all right; she could do nice things sometimes and the most important thing, she wouldn't imprison him to keep the Kyuubi in check.

"Right, so this is a D-ranked mission. You'll report to Chigaki, chief arquitect of the northern sector. This sector had the most devastation and the village is in need of your bunshins to help restore the buildings."

"How many?" wondered the boy.

"As many as it takes to complete ten houses and three buildings in three weeks time."

"That's a lot of work! Can't I have a less boring mission? I could serve as a messenger." The blond suggested. He preferred to travel than work under the sun for weeks.

"Konoha is in need of your abilities, Naruto. I have two and a half hundred homeless people, and most of them don't have the ability to rebuild their homes." Tsunade said while laying her pen down. The blond really wished he could do something more interesting, but hearing the numbers of villagers without a roof he agreed.

"Don't feel that way about the task, it's for the sake of the village after all." The Hokage nodded for a chuunin to hand the boy the scroll. Seeing the blond wasn't convinced she added.

"Plus, the pay for this mission is considerably more than the usual pay, you're building thirteen buildings after all." At this, the blond read the bottom of the scroll, where the wage was printed. His eyebrows shot up immediately.

"I'll have them done in less than three weeks." The blond said, trying to hide his smile.

Tsunade smirked as the boy turned and headed for the door. As soon as the whiskered boy was out of sight he grinned. _'I'm buying the new explosive tags I saw down at the weapon shop, and that blue sleeping… maybe some new clothes? Or I'll just keep saving for my new couch! Haha ' _He was still grinning like an idiot when he got to the north section of the city.

Naruto had to squeeze between the numerous people running up and down the street. It was full of villagers and workers coming and going. Each step he took closer to the gate meant more people around him. He was entering the area that received the most damage in the confrontation. Most of the men and women had some kind of building materials under their arms, and sometimes over their heads. Tall piles of long, smooth wood flanked the streets. There were also lots and lots of steel beams positioned against the remains of the north gate. Most of them were going to be used to rebuild the gate. The whiskered ninja raised his head to look at the progress of the gate. The gaping hole Orochimaru had done was now being filled with vertical and horizontal beams of metal. Once they were all in place, the cement would fill the space. They still had a long way to go.

Naruto had to duck from an end of a wood piece. It was being carried by three bulky men that had turned brusquely from the corner Naruto was walking into. The blond wanted to yell at them but they were in such a hurry they were out of sight in a matter of seconds.

Ladies were under stands selling lunch for the workers and offering cool beverages. Naruto turned his head towards a man yelling at a boy with an orange helmet, it seemed the boy had let something drop.

"I had to take my dog out of the way, man! That stupid machine almost crushed him!" The boy roared back. Naruto realized it was Kiba with Akamaru under his arms.

"You shouldn't have brought your mutt here in the first place kid! If you had listened to me earlier we wouldn't have a broken glass on the street. Now we need to cut another one with the right dimensions and the guy that does that is on the other end of town!" countered the man, readjusting the helmet on his balding head.

"And you suppose it's me who has to go get it?" The dog master asked, incredulous.

"Either you have it here in an hour or I'll have Chigaki-san fire you." The man threatened, showing a chipped tooth as he spoke.

"You should fire the moron controlling that thing, it wasn't even my-"

"Kiba." Shino spoke from the corner of the building, carrying a wheelbarrow with bricks that threatened to fall from the sides. Naruto didn't know how the Aburame could work with his jacket on, under the hot sun. He was, also, wearing a bright orange helmet.

Kiba glanced at Shino momentarily, as Shino looked at him through his glasses. The brunette released a sigh, mixed with a curse as he walked away from the man.

"I'll get your stupid glass." He said as he started walking. Kiba put Akamaru on the ground so he could follow. The blond was surprised to say the least. With just one word had Shino made Kiba do what he was told. Naruto wondered about Shino's secret.

Kiba slowed down to a stop when he noticed him.

"Did you come to join the fun?" The brunette asked, still irritated.

"I was getting bored, so yeah." Responded the blond. "I take it you're Shino's bitch now."

"Shut up." Kiba snarled. "It's impossible to argue with logic itself. If only you knew how he is you'll understand."

"FIVE MINUTES GONE, BRAT! FIFTY FIVE MISSING!" The man yelled from his place besides the house.

"WHAT? IT'S BEEN BARELY TWO MINUTES!" Kiba boomed.

"NOW YOU'VE WASTED TEN MORE MINUTES!" replied the man.

"Fuck my life!" screamed Kiba, throwing his arms towards the sky. Akamaru let out a bark, to show he agreed. The brunette gave a wave of his hand as he parted, dog following close at his side. Naruto smirked at Kiba's situation and decided to ask the worker in charge of Kiba's team, since he heard him mention the head architect's name while arguing with the dog expert.

"This site can only be approached by authorized personnel, furthermore, anyone who comes near the construction areas must be wearing appropriate protection." Shino announced from his working spot, his head turned towards the blond. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"That's my line." Said the man Naruto was looking for. "Get away, we're working here."

"I'll do just that when you tell where Chigaki is. He's got work for me."

* * *

The Takayama Dango Shop was busier than usual.

The buildings near it had been damage to some extent by the recent attack on the village and the workers liked to stop by and buy a few sweets from the shop. Groups of workers and shinobi were sitting on the simple wooden tables the shop had inside, talking and eating happily. Despite the many villagers visiting the shop, Mitarashi Anko was occupying a whole table by herself. No one dared to disturb her while the snake master was eating what she considered to be the food of the gods. There had been a time when a man knocked one of her dumplings to the ground because he had been too careless; walking too close from her plate and accidentally knocking it down. He ended up in the hospital for multiple snake bites, some of them poisonous.

Said woman was sitting at her usual table, the one facing the street. The waiter had just placed down the plate in front of her, and hurriedly walked away to serve the rest of the customers. Anko had had a long week, having to spend the time next to Ibiki, helping him question the prisoners that survived from the attack. It had been really boring, in her opinion, since Ibiki was fond of intellectual tactics to make a person confess. Instead, Anko preferred the physical torture. You know, a little bit of maiming and a little bit of burning, but nor Ibiki nor the Hokage allowed her to do that anymore. Not since a prisoner fell in a coma, cause of one of Anko's interrogations.

The kunoichi took one of the three impaled dumplings from her plate with enthusiasm, a stupid smile plastered on her face. She salivated in anticipation. She opened her mouth wide enough to engulf the three round sweets at the same time, but when she closed it she only felt her teeth clashing against each other, her food gone.

"…the fuck?" She asked out loud, extremely confused and extremely furious. Her dango was gone, the one on her hand as well as the ones on her plate. She started to look around, frenetically. Anko resembled a rooster looking for intruders on his yard, moving his head from side to side quickly.

"Looking for this?" a voice said not so far from her. Anko turned her head rapidly, face livid.

"_You." _She started, getting up slowly. "What do you think you are doing?" Her voice was saturated with venom. Her voice attracted curios people turning their heads around, wanting to see what the deal was.

"Payback." Naruto grinned, rapidly taking the three sticks and shoving them in his mouth. Villagers and shinobi gasped dramatically. The Mitarashi stood rooted in place. She watched, unbelieving, as the three sticks came out of his mouth; the colored dumplings gone.

"Meh… I've had better." Said the blond, swallowing the food. The onlookers were having the same, collective thought. That boy was going to die today.

Anko was staring at him with murderous eyes. Naruto thought she was going to say something else but she just darted towards him, full speed. A shiny kunai had made its way to her right hand. The blond jumped to the closest roof and started running for his life, a nervous grin on his face. The chase had started.

"COME BACK HERE!" Villagers could hear the woman bellow as she darted across the roofs and terraces. "I'M GONNA OPEN YOUR STOMACH AND TAKE BACK MY DANGO!"

'_I don't doubt it.' _Naruto leapt to another porch, turning left abruptly, just in time to get out of the kunai path, courtesy from Anko. It had been aimed to his neck. The whiskered boy started thinking that what he had done had been a bad idea.

Anko appeared a few feet ahead of him in a flash, another knife making its way towards Naruto. The boy had to jump, since the knife almost got to his crotch. _Really _bad idea. He was in mid air now and the woman had reappeared again, this time only a few inches away from him.

"Shit." Naruto managed to say before the jounin grabbed his throat.

"I doubt you survive this." Anko said with a twisted smile. They had now landed in a building's roof. A snake escaped Anko's sleeve and coiled itself around the Kyuubi container's neck. The blond's lip started to tremble.

"This… This is kind of extreme, don't you think?" Naruto spoke, a quiver in his voice. At this the purple haired woman smiled.

"Not even close."

The snake finally bit Naruto on his jaw. Naruto didn't react; he just stood still, waiting for the poison effect to appear. Suddenly he began to shake. At this Anko released her grip around his now sore throat with a sneer on her face. The blond fell to his knees, his shakes became more violent.

"That'll teach you never to mess with me." Naruto raised his head with difficulty, a painful smile on his sweaty face. Anko frowned at this.

"Suck this you hag." Naruto managed while he flipped his middle finger. Before Anko could do anything else, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Her frustrated scream could be heard from a mile away.

* * *

"What's next?" Tsunade asked grumpily, clearly wanting to do something else apart from village-related matters. She had just dismissed Maito Gai from her office with a smile on his face. They had finally appointed a date for Lee's operation, a week from now. Tomorrow she would have to talk to the heads of the hospital to secure an operating room and the necessary equipment, along with the necessary staff. She would also have to read a few books to remember a few things she had forgotten about hand nerves and ligaments.

Shizune had begun to talk.

"The chuunin examiners are waiting outside to discuss promotions. Do I call them in?" she raised her head from the clipboard on her hands. Tsunade nodded. After the eight or so shinobi entered and placed themselves around the large office, Tsunade started.

"As you people know, we have lost quite a few shinobi which leads to a need to replenish the ranks. I have already upgraded chuunins to jounins, so that's covered. I am, however, missing chuunins on my villages. So, since you checked upon the progress of the genins, I need your opinions on who you think may be apt to be a chuunin." She paused for a moment and turned to the head examiner. "Ibiki?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He said respectfully. "We had our eyes upon a couple of genins… Tobitake." He called a man with his upper face covered in bandages. Tsunade was surprised he could walk without tripping every time.

Tobitake Tonbo handed Ibiki a paper with something written in it. The scarred man cleared his throat.

"First we have Hyuuga Neji, user of the Byakugan as you may already know. He showed a good level of power an-"

"I refuse to promote someone that was willing to commit cold-blooded murder." The large-breasted woman interjected with a frown in her face.

"Hayate expressed the same feelings as you did." Ibiki said with a nod. There was solemn silence among the examiners for a moment. Hayate had been found dead hours before the attack.

"Who else?"

"Nara Shikamaru, due to his skill with the Kagemane technique. That boy knows how to combine it with his intelligence well. During the assault he restrained twenty men long enough so that our forces could eliminate them. I'm sure he would be a good leader." Tsunade nodded in agreement.

"There was that Gaara boy also… but since he was with the enemy forces his candidature has been eliminated." Everyone nodded at that.

"Is that it?" The Hokage asked, feeling a bit angry that Naruto hadn't been taken into account. It is difficult for a Kage to promote someone that hasn't been suggested by the examiners; it would like favoritism from the boards' point of view.

"No. We had also Uzumaki Naruto in sight. But we're still undecided about him."

"Why's that?" asked Tsunade, leaning forward.

"He's a clown." Came the response of a chuunin she did not know the name of. "And come on, he's… you know." The chuunin knew he had said the wrong thing when The Fifth glared at him.

"That has nothing to do with anything." She seethed. The chuunin apologized fervently. She turned to Ibiki again. "You were saying?"

"He still needs to take things more seriously. You remember that technique he pulled on the Rain boy, don't you?" Kotetsu and Izumo sniggered.

"A genin takes after his teacher. Remember he is Kakashi's student."

"The boy is an idiot." Anko said brusquely.

"Are you still sore about your dango?" Kotetsu asked with a smile. The Mitarashi turned to him angrily.

"It's not that. The brat doesn't have any respect for anyone."

"He reminds me of you, Mitarashi-san." Izumo chided in.

"Shut up." Spat the woman, turning her head away from them.

"According to Asuma-san he stopped a thousand kunai with his kage bunshins. And he guided fifty villagers to safety. That sounded impressive to me." Genma said, hands on his pocket.

"And there's a rumor that he alone defeated the Shukaku." Said Izumo. "I personally think it is true, since the fox's chakra was near the Shukaku that night." Kotetsu and Genma nodded at the comment.

"The boy has great skill, all right." Agreed Ibiki, finally. "Although I would like him more if he weren't such a smartass."

"Wouldn't we all?" Tsunade said with a smile. "But still, his many skills drown his flaws." There were a couple of nods from the chuunins.

Izumo broke the short silenced that followed. "So… are we gonna promote those two?"

"Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto. Shizune, I want their record in my desk by tomorrow." The First's granddaughter ordered to the young woman standing aside quietly. Shizune nodded obediently. She turned her clear, brown eyes towards the inspectors. "Thank you for your hard work. You are dismissed."

The youngest shinobi responded with a firm "Hai, Hokage-sama." And a bow before they retired. Ibiki just nodded his head, along with Anko. After everyone has left, Shizune stepped forward.

"I bet you're happy about Naruto-kun." Said the short-haired woman with a smile towards her mentor.

"Don't be silly, Shizune. I just hate that he is discriminated for his condition… He also earned his spot." The older woman turned towards the window. Her pupil giggled. "Stop that. Is there anything else?"

"The Sand ambassador isn't supposed to be here in an hour or so, since your meeting with the examiners was supposed to be longer. After that, you're free."

Tsunade sighed dramatically. "I don't know what I'm going to do with Suna. The Council does not help; those geezers never agree with anything, so it's up to me."

"Has Suna answered in any way? Did it recognize his participation in the attack?"

"They said they were tricked by Orochimaru, since he killed the Kazekage and impersonated him so he could lead the ninja army. 'Not our fault' they say; but they still caused major losses to the village." She closed her eyes and sighed. _'What would you do, sensei?' _Her musings halted when a new presence appeared in her office.

"I never imagined you would have enough temper to stand politics, hime." Jiraiya's voice said. Shizune widened her eyes a bit, at his unexpected appearance, but then she recovered.

"Jiraiya-sama." She greeted respectfully.

"Hello, my dear." The old man conceded, with a grin, looking at the woman from head to toe.

"Don't." Tsunade warned. "I will not tolerate any perverted act around me."

"I didn't do anything." Jiraiya said, scratching his neck. Shizune laughed awkwardly. Tsunade awarded him a nasty smile.

"Anyways…" Jiraiya said, winking to Shizune. The young kunoichi raised an eyebrow. "I need more time with the boy."

"Last week I lowered his working hours a day so he could train with you half a day."

"It's still not enough. Naruto needs to use all his concentration on training. He always arrives tired…"

"I can't give you more time with him, and you can't have him at night. He needs to rest to continue his morning shift."

"You don't understand, Tsunade." The sennin placed his both his palms on Tsunade's desk. He locked eyes with her. "My sources tell me that they're making their move. _They _are looking for him right now and they are closing in. I want to prepare him so that he can take care of himself. He is a chuunin now, and that means he will have to go out there. I'm sure they will be waiting." The woman looked at him. She didn't want to think he was pleading.

"I am Hokage now, Jiraiya. I have a village to worry about." The woman stood up. Eyes still placed on Jiraiya. "And right now there are homeless people roaming down the streets. I _need _to give them back their homes." They remained locking eyes for what Shizune thought was almost one whole minute. Finally, Jiraiya lowered his head with a sigh.

"All right. I'll wait no more than two weeks. If the boy isn't finished by then I'll take him somewhere you can't find us." Tsunade nodded at that.

* * *

Naruto laughed, along with Sakura, Kiba and Hinata. It was fun to watch how Ino tugged on Chouji's ears painfully for eating her piece of roasted beef. The others watched with a bemused expression, Shikamaru, or no expression at all: (you guessed) Shino.

It was the first time he had been at Teishoku Grill Restaurant or any grill restaurant whatsoever. It had a little fancy sign on top of the entrance made out of wood, with the letters neatly carved in. Most of the place was also made out of wood. Since it was his first time, he didn't know how it worked. Hinata was kind enough to fill him in.

"Y-You choose what you want to eat." They had a wide selection of all kinds of meat, seafood and veggies. There were so many things Naruto was the last person to order, so he could read the entire menu. They had shrimps, octopi, squids, chicken, seaweed, tofu, ribs and all kinds of beefs. Finally the whiskered blond had decided for miso steak. Now he only had to tell the waitress marinade he wanted his order with. Since he didn't want to go back to the menu, he took Chouji's advice. So, in front of him he had a plate with his chopped stake marinated with Tare.

"Now you j-just place your portions on the grill and wait for it to c-cook." The byakugan-user had explained. Simple enough.

There was a loud clatter on their table. Sakura and Ino were arguing about something, while Shikamaru complained about women. Chouji was too focused on his grilling meat to pay attention to anything else and Hinata and Kiba were talking about their sensei, Shino seemed to be listening too.

"I saw her entering the movies with team ten's sensei. And I thought that was weird since she doesn't really like watching movies that much." His comment attracted Shikamaru's and Ino's attention.

"I think they're seeing each other." That started a rain of suppositions from the genins. Naruto raised his eyes to the wall, where a window was located. The moon was half covered by fluffy clouds. Jiraiya had released the blond earlier because he had to do something else, he didn't tell Naruto what. That left Naruto with few energy left and an aching hand. He had been trying to do the Fourth's jutsu, the Rasengan, but was still stuck with it. He had moved on from water balloons and rubber balls and was now left with just his right hand, trying to make a blue ball of chakra. He had been training for two weeks now but since he only had the afternoons to work with Jiraiya, he didn't progressed much. He would have liked to continue trying by his own but that would mean arriving exhausted to the construction site and that wouldn't help finish the buildings.

He had found Sakura and Sasuke working a few blocks away from him. The blond found himself going to visit them when he saw his clones concentrated on their work. Team eight was also near, but they were missing Hinata, since she was still off duty. But sometimes she came to check up on their teammates, and also say hello to Naruto. The girl often brought snacks for her partners and Naruto, after she discovered the blond was working close. He talked to her during his breaks and he found out that she had been given another month to recuperate her strength.

That day Sakura had told Naruto and Sasuke she had been invited by Ino to dine with her team. Ino also said they wouldn't mind Naruto and Sasuke coming. They both turn the invitation down. Naruto had to train, as did Sasuke. That left a disappointed Sakura.

The blond had caught the Uchiha looking at him from the corner of his eyes, but Naruto didn't comment on it. Was he still sore about him saving the Uchiha from Gaara? The blond was too busy to ask.

When Jiraiya left a few hours earlier, Naruto decided he would go. He found the time to take a shower first and find some clean clothes: A faded jean and a red shirt. When he got to the restaurant he found team eight as well. Kiba's team had decided to go to the same restaurant and they met with the others, so they decided to eat together.

"I wish Sasuke-kun was here." Lamented Ino, turning her shrimps on the grill. This provoked a groan from Shikamaru.

"Why do you have to always mention him? It's starting to get annoying." Shikamaru said.

"He had to train, as always." Sakura responded.

"He should get a break. I mean, even Naruto is here, and he doesn't show up for anything." Ino said, ignoring the Nara's comment and pointing at Naruto with her chopsticks. The blond raised his head from the grill and gave a half-assed salute. He immediately regretted doing that. He winced silently and grabbed his bandaged right forearm with his left hand and started massaging it. The Rasengan required chakra molding, and his arms muscles were strained by the chakra passing through it. He tried to stop his arm from shaking.

"Are you OK, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. It seemed she was the only one to notice his pain. The rest of the genin had continued the conversation. Naruto nodded.

"My arm is just a bit sore." He assured, his hand still pressing it. The raven-haired Hyuuga was about to let it go as a work injury but after taking a closer look at his left palm she noticed it was mildly burned.

"A-Aren't you pushing yourself too much?" she asked timidly, her cheeks coloring a bit. The blond looked at her, and then responded.

"You're saying that for the burnings right? Tomorrow they will be gone, don't worry about it, Hin." Naruto grinned.

The girl blushed at the nickname but still worried about the blond. Her concern grew when he said that his wounds would have healed tomorrow. On a normal person, those burns would heal in four days approximately; maybe two with proper ointment. But Naruto's wounds always seemed to heal faster than normal. She had started noticing that on the Land Of Waves. When she applied her ointment into his knuckles, the skin regenerated in moments. The Hyuuga tried to come up with an explanation but couldn't find one. Recently she was thinking that it might have something to do with the red chakra that had been coursing Naruto's system that day in the forest of death. But how could those two connect?

She observed how Naruto strived to grab his piece of meat with his chopsticks on his left hand. Since he couldn't accomplish the task he asked for a fork instead.

"You better take your beef before it burns up." Kiba called from her side, gesturing at her pieces on the grill. The girl emitted a sound and hurried to get them to her plate.

"Do you think they'll do another chuunin exam soon?" Everyone looked at Chouji, the sides of his mouth filled up with grease. "I mean, since it seems they didn't pick anybody."

"I think they'll decide from the information they gathered." Sakura said, taking a sip from her soda.

"Nuh uh. They just saw us take a written test and fight against each other. A chuunin is supposed to be a leader and they can't tell if a person is one just from that." Shikamaru added.

"But they still need chuunin don't they?" Ino asked.

"I think they'll go over the smartest." Hinata said, taking a sip from her iced-tea.

"Not the smartest. The strongest." Kiba responded rapidly.

"You strength doesn't count for anything if you're not smart." Shino replied calmly. Sakura nodded at this.

"He's right. A powerful ninja could be killed easily if he is not careful." Sakura chided in.

"Well… yeah, but if he is strong enough he shouldn't be worried about being careful." Kiba continued his argument. Akamaru placed a small paw on his masters let and Kiba gave him a piece of pork.

"Why do you keep saying 'He'? Can't a woman be strong also?" Ino said angrily. Sakura nodded, saying

"Look at Tsunade-sama. It is said she is the strongest shinobi in the whole country."

"I'm sure she is strong, I mean she is the Hokage, but she can't be_ the _strongest." Kiba commented. At this Naruto shook his head.

"I'm positive she is the strongest. With just a single hit she could bring down the whole forest tower. Believe me." The blond jinchuriki said, raising another piece of meat to his lips. Kiba crossed his arms, disgruntled.

"What do you think, Hinata? Very strong or very smart?" the dog master asked his female teammate. Akamaru rustled at his feet. Hinata had to first chew down her food before she answered.

"Both, I believe." The girl nodded. "You can't survive without one or the other."

"You heard her, mutt. You better start training because right now you have neither." The blond replied with a smile. This provoked a round of laughs from the majority of the genins. Kiba snarled at him.

"Who do you think could be chosen?" Ino said quickly, preventing Kiba from start fighting.

"No one, because as I said earlier, they have too little information." Replied Shikamaru, leaning back on his chair; He had finished his food.

"But you know us a little better. If you had to chose between any of us, who would you choose?" Ino prodded. Shikamaru sighed but thought about it.

"Maybe Shino." Shikamaru turned to look at him. "You look smart, but I don't really know your strength. But you should be strong since you are an Aburame."

"If you are talking about who is smartest, you should nominate yourself." Shino said.

"Nah, I didn't show myself so smart in the exams. Besides, being chuunin would be very troublesome." Shikamaru placed both hands beside his head.

"What about the rest of us?" Kiba asked angrily.

"Hmmm… Naruto, too." Shikamaru responded finally.

"Why him?" the Inuzuka demanded.

"He's not half bad. And he's smart… kinda."

"Geez, thanks." Naruto answered, not sure if he should be flattered or insulted. The one that was definitively insulted was Kiba.

"What the hell is wrong with me then? I could take you!" The brunette was fuming, his ears had reddened.

"C'mon you guys. It's just his opinion, Kiba. Don't let it get to you. " Sakura tried to calm him down.

"No really! I want to know why you wouldn't choose me." Kiba prodded.

"You wanna know? Fine. You're way too hot headed, and that proves dangerous in missions." The pineapple-haired boy responded, getting annoyed at Kiba's insistence. The dog user knew it was true, that's why he didn't complain about that, but he was still irked that Naruto could be a chuunin in Shikamaru's eyes and he couldn't. Shikamaru saw that Naruto wanted to make a comment. Sensing this could get ugly, he decided to end the conversation while everyone was in good terms.

"That's your only fault Kiba, and it's not that bad. The rest of your skills are on a good level." Kiba huffed at his comment but said no more. Naruto didn't say anything after that.

"What about Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked Shikamaru indignantly. She was supported by Sakura and the boys just sighed.

They decided to leave at twenty past ten. They all had to get early to do their respective mission. Chouji asked for the bill and each pre-teen took their wallet out. He passed the bill around so everyone could confirm the price of their meal. The Akimichi was the one that had to pay the most, since he asked for three different plates. Once the paper reached the blond he took out an amount of money and put it on the table. Hinata reached her hand out to receive the bill from him but the blond ignored her and handed it to Kiba. They both looked at him questioningly.

"Did you forget? I owed you dinner." He said matter of factly. The girl looked down at the pile of coins and bills in front of the blond and realized it was covering his and her expenditures. Kiba continued to look at him strangely. "For her jacket? At the exams?" Kiba seemed to accept this.

"B-But that was over two months ago, Naruto-kun." Hinata said, feeling embarrassed at his gesture.

"So? A promise is a promise." He put in an extra bill for the tip. The girl thanked him shyly.

"It was great!" Chouji told his friend happily, once they were all outside the restaurant. "Don't you just love barbeque?"

"Yes, Chouji, but not as much as you." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "C'mon, I gotta get home before eleven or my mom's gonna kill me." Chouji smiled and sent a big grin to the genins.

"Good bye, guys. We should do this again some other time." He said eagerly.

"I'll go with you, my house is that way too." Sakura chirped quickly running up to them and waving good bye. Chouji had started to tell Shikamaru about the new dishes they were going to add to the menu.

"Kami, it's getting cold." Ino complained. "C'mon Kiba, you're coming with me."

"Why?" The dog master exclaimed, not liking her commanding voice.

"Because we live near each other and I don't want to walk alone at this time, so let's go. C'ya soon you three." She finished, granting a smile at the genin left. Kiba sighed heavily, then turned.

"I'll guess I'll see you guys tomorrow, then." He said with a last look at his team.

"Bye, Kiba-kun." Responded the only girl left. She turned to Shino. "Are you leaving too?"

"Yes. I need to sleep my usual seven hours to be in optimum conditions for tomorrow's work." The boy responded in an even voice. The blond raised both eyebrows but said nothing.

"Bye then, Shino-kun." The girl said with a smile.

"The same to you." Shino replied. He turned to the whiskered genin. "Naruto, I expect you to accompany Hinata-san to her house. It's not prudent for a lady walk alone this late at night." Hinata blushed at her teammate comment, looking away from Naruto.

"S-Shino-kun, that isn't necessa-"

"I agree with you, man. Don't worry, I'll get her home." Naruto replied giving him a lazy thumps up. He was surprised that he could express (kind of) some concern for his female comrade. Shino nodded and turned South.

"R-Really, Naruto-kun. I don't n-need t-"

"I know you don't. But I want to." The blond said, interrupting her again. He started to walk towards her house direction. "Besides, I haven't had a proper conversation with you in a long time." Hinata knew she couldn't convince him otherwise once he had made a decision, so she just caught up with him. They entered the lightened, empty streets of Konoha.

"I'm surprised you could stay this long with us." Started the blue-eyed boy. "You usually have to return home earlier." Hinata perked her head up, surprised he had paid attention to her habits that much.

"Well, my father extended my curfew a-after he knew of my fight with Neji." The girl let herself smile a bit. "He was… I w-wouldn't say pleasantly surprised, but he did notice a few improvements on me."

"That's… good." The blond said, turning his face towards her. "That's a sign he's starting to acknowledge you, right?"

"Hai. I-I'ts not much, but is a start." She said happily. "He's thinking about letting me train with him again."

"Cool. I bet he's gonna teach you kick-ass techniques." Naruto said as he turned left. They were now getting to the financial sector of Konoha. The buildings were dark and empty.

"He hasn't agreed to train m-me yet, Naruto-kun. H-He may even think it over and turn down the idea completely." She said the last part down casted.

"He'll agree to it, Hin. Don't worry about it. He's finally opened his eyes to your potential." They indigo-haired Hyuuga flushed deep red at him complementing her power. It made her smile gleefully, she just hoped it was dark enough so the blond couldn't see her blush.

"I hope so."

"If you ever need a sparring partner, you can always call me. I'd also like to see your new moves." The blond said while he placed his left hand inside his pocket. "We've never have an actual fight, right?"

"I don't think s-so." She responded, then looked up. There was movement on a balcony nearby. Naruto also raised his head. A young couple was making out; the man was gliding his hand slowly towards the woman's rear. Hinata lowered her gaze rapidly. Naruto gave a low chuckle. He continued talking,

"One of these days, then; when you are in fighting conditions again." The girl nodded and made a new goal to improve as much as she could to impress her crush on a spar between the two. She noticed that most of the times she was with the charming blond, he always made plans for them to see each other again. It didn't matter if he was doing it subconsciously, she would accept anything he proposed just to be near him.

"I'll also l-like to see your new techniques." She added shyly, motioning to Naruto's bandaged hand. The blond raised his hand slowly.

"Heh, if I ever get this jutsu right, I don't think I could use it on you. It'd be too dangerous." He touched his palm gingerly with his left hand fingers. He contorted his face slightly at the touch.

"Y-You'll get it right, Naruto-kun. You a-always do." She said, trying to sound encouraging. This earned her one of his smiles; it fell rapidly.

"I've been wanting to ask you about Neji." Naruto said, forming a small frown on his face. "How is he treating you?"

"Uhm…" the girl thought for a moment. "He's been acting o-odd, recently. He only speaks to me if it's absolutely necessary."

"There's times he j-just stares at me when he thinks I'm not looking." She said before pausing. Neji had stopped looking at her coldly, like he always did. But now it's like he's trying to measure her up.

"If he ever mistreats you show him that jutsu of yours again... Maim him a little to show him you're serious."

"Kami, no… I-I couldn't." The girl exclaimed with an horrified expression.

"Yeah I know that…" Naruto responded, sounding a little disappointed. "At least he knows what you can do with that. That'll teach him to back off."

They made their way over to a small wooden bridge, which had a small river passing underneath. A few yards west was the main entrance to the Hashirama Park; place Hinata was familiar with since she used to visit it almost every evening after she had been discharged from the hospital. The girl turned her head when she heard someone approaching from behind. The Uzumaki did the same.

"Sorry to disturb you." He was around his forties, with an unattended beard and a torn scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. He was wearing a large overcoat that didn't smell really good. "I was wondering if you had anything you could give me. Life hasn't been really fortunate to me, as you two can see." He produced a short, tired smile. Naruto could see his teeth were in very bad shape, a couple of them missing.

"Off course." Hinata said in a gentle tone. The bum placed himself near the girl. The Hyuuga gave a kind smile as she handed him a few coins. Naruto produced a few change from his pocket and gave it to the poor guy. They guy showered them with lots of 'thank you' s and 'you're so very kind'. Finally the man retreated, but not before saying one last thing to the pair of genins.

"Take care, young man." His black eyes rested on Naruto's for a moment. The blond thought there was a little mockery on his tone. He decided the man might not be right in the head. "You too, miss." He finished, directing a brief glance at the girl.

"I've never seen him before." Hinata noted, after the man had gone the opposite way. Not many homeless people roamed near the Hyuuga district, but the few that 'lived' there she recognized.

"The attack disturbed many… Most people are just disorientated." Naruto said dismissively, but he swore he had seen that man before. He had an image of the man sitting on the street, looking miserable and asking for change but couldn't quite place him. A couple of times they had crossed eyes but Naruto had ignored him. Was it over at the construction site? Or was it near Ichiraku?  
While the blond searched his memory the two genins had already arrived to the main gates of the Hyuuga mansion. They stopped some feet away from the wooden doors, where Naruto bid Hinata farewell. The blond watched as the guard in front of the doors bowed briefly to the girl. Hinata greeted the man in return. With the aid of the moon's light Naruto saw the cursed seal on the man's forehead. The older man opened the door for the heir; Hinata turned, sparing Naruto a last look. The blond smiled, and the girl did too with a soft blush.

Naruto turned, but not before catching the glare the older Hyuuga was sending him. It wasn't that of hate, which the villagers sent him often (although those had diminished lately), but that of intense suspicion. The blond thought the Hyuuga had all the right. He was concerned who the future leader of his clan hanged with. It seemed Hinata was appreciated more among the branch members than among her closest relatives.

Naruto started towards his house, but twisted his head again towards the highest floor of the house. He had felt someone watching him and it wasn't the guard. The blond searched for the person responsible of catching his attention and sure enough, he found Neji regarding him coolly from the third window to the left. Naruto eyed him sharply and after a few seconds Neji retreated.

* * *

"Gah!" a strong voice exclaimed in irritation, scaring a black and white cat that was lurking nearby. "I hate when people are late."

"Keep it down, Kisame. We don't want to attract unnecessary attention." A second man talked, calmly taking a sip from his steaming tea. The music blared from within the building behind them. It was almost sun-break and the people were beginning to leave the bar and go home. The two cloaked men were sitting on chairs located outdoors; they took two tables, one for them and another for a long object, wrapped in filthy bandages.

"I know but he's one hour late!" the strange blue man, called Kisame, exclaimed again.

"Konoha must be very attentive of the people leaving the village. They're very sensitive after the attack." The ring he was wearing glistened under the moonlight as he lowered his hand and placed the cup on the table. His partner grunted as he drummed his fingers on the other table. Three men exited the bar at that moment. All of them were extremely wasted. One of them stumbled over his other comrade, making them both fall on their faces. The third man laughed freely, the other two joined him. They stood up and disappeared behind a corner.

"Ah! There he comes!" yelled once more Kisame, a grin on his fishy face. He was referring to a man that walked towards the bar.

"My deepest apologies." The newly arrived said, taking off his fake teeth and threw them away. "A pair of assholes showered me with questions about my reasons for leaving and-"

"We don't want to hear about that." The black haired man interrupted, placing both his elbows on the wooden table and joining his hands in front of his chin. "Tell us about the boy."

The older man cowered under the cloaked man's gaze. He'd heard about what those eyes could do to one's mind and it wasn't pretty. He decided to look at something else, then answered,

"H-Hai, Itachi-san."

* * *

**Author's section**

**I ****LOVE ****Itachi! One of my favorite characters! Anyways…**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

**C'ya later**

** - Patty**


	29. Chapter 29

**NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**And yet another one. Enjoy!**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

/

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 29

"Look, I got another one: burned alive or drowned to death?" the whiskered blond asked as he took a bite from his turkey sandwich. He decided to take a break from fish and rice.

"Let me think…" Sasuke lowered the soda can from his lips and placed it next to his right foot. His left was dangling freely above the ground. "I've burned myself practicing my fire jutsus, so I know it hurts like hell…"

"You'd like to drown to death, then?" Sakura asked, not quite able to push away the horrified edge her voice had. She didn't remember how this started but she was sure she hated their little conversations about "How would you prefer to die?"

Sasuke shook his head slowly.

"No. I've heard that when you burn you'll stop feeling after a while. When you drown is constant agony until the end, I suppose. So I'd rather have some kind of relief before I die." The Uchiha seemed firm on this terrible decision.

"Hmm." Naruto removed a bit of sauce around his mouth with a clean napkin. "I didn't know one stopped to feel, but I don't think that drowning is so bad. I think you black out before you drop dead, you know? After all you're missing oxygen and your brain stops working right. So it's also a kind of relief." Sasuke shook his head.

"I'm not sure about that." He munched on his own sandwich. "Does that really happen, Sakura?"

"Uhm…" The green-eyed kunoichi flushed a bit at the attention the Uchiha heir was giving her. Sakura opened her mouth to respond Sasuke's question but Kakashi's presence stopped her.

"My pupils!" he greeted cheerfully. The gray-haired ninja smiled at them from under his ever-present mask. "Why aren't you working?"

"Lunch break." Responded Sasuke simply, slightly raising his soda to elaborate more. He found the can taken from his hand by Kakashi.

"I see." The white-haired man replied, taking a sip from the beverage. The can seemed to go through the mask as if there were no mask at all. The three students stopped wondering how Kakashi did such thing since they've seen that happen many times. "Ah! Grape, I like orange better but what are you gonna do." Kakashi said with a laugh as he handed the can back to Sasuke. The Uchiha discovered the recipient was now empty. He let out an annoyed sighed; Sakura and Naruto laughed heartily.

"Lunch is on you tomorrow, sensei. Don't forget." Sasuke said with a sneaky smile. Kakashi was now assigned to survey the strengthening of Konoha's forest control (the new Hokage was not taking any more chances) so Kakashi could only train his students (the two he still had) twice a week; and team Kakashi had decided that all Thursdays they should eat lunch together at their sensei's expense. Said jounin stopped smiling.

"Oh, yeah… I was hoping you had forgotten." He wouldn't mind paying for food if it wasn't for Naruto's intake of it.

"I was thinking Ichiraku's…" The Uchiha genius said slyly. Naruto's head shot upwards, attention leaving the remains of his present lunch.

"Heck yeah!" The blond yelled exuberantly. He threw his hand in the air. _'Damn you, Sasuke.' _The Hatake cursed mentally as he glared at his dark-haired student. His earlier cheerfulness was gone now.

"Ramen?" the green-eyed kunoichi asked with hesitation. Sakura sent a worried glance at the Uchiha; she hoped Sasuke wasn't becoming a ramen-lover like Naruto.

"It's been a while." Sasuke responded simply.

"Good call, teme." The blond called with a laugh. He pounded the other boy's back with the flat of his hand rather harshly. Sasuke rolled his eyes but permitted himself a small smile. Kakashi turned to the whiskered boy.

"Naruto, the Hokage wants to see you at four o'clock. Please, don't make her wait too much this time. You know how much she hates that."

"You know how much we hate you being late and still you show up at least two hours after the appointed time." Sasuke said accusingly. Sakura wanted to comply as well, but she didn't have anything against being with Sasuke.

"Yeah, but you're not the Hokage, are you Sasuke?" The Uchiha didn't respond.

"Four o'clock. Got it." Naruto said curtly as he threw his empty soda can in a nearby thrash can. "C'ya tomorrow, then."

The genins and the jounin watched the blond run rapidly through the crowd. Sasuke smirked as he almost tripped with a black dog.

"Finish up, you two. Training's waiting." The copy-cat nin said.

"You're coming with us to the training spot?" Sasuke asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Nope. I need to get a report from this security tower to Lady Hokage as soon as I can"

"Why should we hurry? You're still going to be late." Sakura accused.

"You don't need me to warm up. I'll be there earlier than usual, trust me." Kakashi smiled as he turned towards the newly finished tower. As he swiveled around he saw two cloaked forms walking with the crowd. He stopped short in his tracks; those individuals seemed incredibly suspicious to the experienced jounin.

"Is something wrong, sensei?" Sakura asked. She found Kakashi's stance (one foot planted in the ground and the other one in mid air) kind of funny, but his serious face stopped her from giggling. Sasuke also seemed concerned.

"No." The jounin glanced again to the crowd. The two figures had disappeared. He would look into it once he'd finished delivering the report.

"Do you think we could get a C-mission if we asked for one?" Sakura said; their sensei long gone. She still had some vegetables on her bento box.

"Dunno." Sasuke responded, taking a gulp from a new soda. "Kiba's been asking for one for a week and team eight is still stuck in here."

"How do you know that?"

"Shino…" Sakura raised an eyebrow. She had never seen those two talk to each other. On the other hand, their personalities were alike.

"Maybe if Naruto asks for it Tsunade-sama'll give one to us. I think she's fond of him." Sakura was looking at an eagle soaring through the sky as she said that. The girl turned to her companion and was surprised to see a frown on his face.

"Is something wrong?" The girl found herself asking a second time. Sasuke's mind was circling around his blond friend. Lately, he seemed to be hearing everyone talk about Naruto and his incredible feats during the attack. How he was able to stop a platoon of enemy ninjas by himself, saving not just half-a-hundred villagers but the heiress of the Hyuuga clan also. There were also the rumors about his victory against the sand demon.

Only Sasuke knew they weren't just rumors, and if the villagers knew the real thing, they'd be also talking about how Naruto saved Uchiha Sasuke from the monster.

It's incredible that he is the same clown he met at the Academy years ago, when he could only messed things up. He would like to feel happy for Naruto; Sasuke had a feeling the blond really deserved the attention. But another part of himself was convinced that there was something odd going on with him. There was something else that helped Naruto on his battles. Sasuke knew he didn't have any proof but Naruto's behavior when the Uchiha asked him about what exactly had happened with Gaara made him suspicious. He always changed the subject or simply ran somewhere else. The same happened when he asked him details on his fight with Orochimaru.

That part of himself also thought _'It isn't fair that he has help from an unknown source and everyone cheers thinking it was Naruto doing it all by himself… If I had a choice…' _

Sasuke placed his fingers on his lower neck. He didn't feel anything but he knew there was the curse seal, courtesy of Orochimaru, surrounded by the seal placed by Kakashi to keep the other one in check.

'_I could do great things too…' _

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura proded. "Is it hurting again?" She had noticed Sasuke rubbing it unconsciously. The pink-haired girl had a worried look on her face.

He shook his head. "Don't feel a thing." He assured. To stop her from asking more questions, he told her they should better get back to work.

"Maybe we can finish the kitchen toda-" He halted his speech, mouth hanging open.

"Sasuke-kun? What is it?" Sakura turned her head to look at what Sasuke's eyes were seeing but she saw nothing out of usual.

"Nothing." Sasuke said rapidly. He tried not to show it but he was looking a bit shaken. "Get going, I'll catch up with you in a while."

"Sasuke-kun you sur-"

"Get going, Sakura." He repeated, this time angrily. The girl finally obeyed, but not without looking back at him a few times.

She hadn't seen what Sasuke did. A big, black crow perched on top of a balcony staring right at Sasuke. The boy swore it had been smiling at him but it took off on Naruto's direction before Sakura could see it.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan as he hurried.

/

His jaw had started aching after a solid minute of gritting his teeth in anger. Oh! But not just that, the blond told himself. There was definitively something else there. Naruto hated the feeling that was filling up his stomach. He was so _scared. _And the worst part was that they knew. He knew by the way the fish guy smirked at him, clearly amused. And the other guy… his black, onyx eyes seemed to look through him. Just looking at him unnerved him. His blue eyes locked with his black ones. Naruto knew who _he _was. Yes, he knew as soon as the man took off his straw hat.

…They were so remarkably alike.

"-We know who you are and _what _you are. That's why we're-" The man stopped talking. "I have the impression you're not listening to what I'm saying."

Right he was. Naruto was still staring at him with unblinking eyes. He had been thinking of one thing only, since they showed up.

"You're Uchiha Itachi." Naruto said, finally. The blond licked his lips nervously. A cold bead of sweat ran down his back. "Sasuke's brother."  
Itachi's eyebrows jumped ever so slightly. His blue companion smirked from his spot against the rail that separated the canal from the river that cruised to their left.

"Ha! You're famous here, Itachi!" His energetic voice blared. Now that the fish-guy had talked, the blond turned his attention towards him. Naruto noticed the sharp teeth resting behind the man's blue lips. _'He looks like a shark!' _

"You seem acquainted with my little brother." Itachi's face was blank.

"He's my teammate." Naruto informed, rooted on his spot. A very thin smirk formed on Itachi's lips; the fact seemed to amuse him. 'Funny how things work out' Naruto could almost hear him thinking.

"Maybe we can pay him a visit, you know Itachi?" The shark ninja said with a sharp smile. "After we are done here."

"Shut up, Kisame." Itachi ordered. _'Kisame means Demon Shark.' _Naruto thought. _'Fits him well.' _

"As I was saying, Naruto-kun, we've come to take you for the bijuu living inside you." Itachi was saying smoothly. Naruto had no idea what a bijuu was but since it was living inside him, he deduced it was Kyuubi.

"And you want me to go quietly with you." Naruto said. As nervous as he was, he still kept a good dose of his cockiness.

"Smart boy." Itachi said. Naruto smiled tensely as he took out two kunai from his leg pouch. He brandished them with a menacing sneer.

"Think again." The blond spat, his knifes pointing to his intruders. "I'd never surrender to the enemy peacefully." The adrenaline that shot through his system helped the fear diminish a little. At least he could stop his shaking hands.

"I love when they refuse!" Kisame barked with a laugh. He turned his blue head to his partner. "Let me have him, Itachi."

The Uchiha seemed to think about it. Personally, Naruto hoped he would let Kisame fight him. He had a feeling he'd stand no chance against the famous murderer.

"You have fifteen minutes." Itachi said in a deadpanned tone. This caused Kisame to laugh again.

"You give him too much credit." The blue person turned towards his new prey. "He's just a kid! And he's not even a chuunin. I'll have him in five, tops."

Naruto gritted his teeth as he deactivated his weights. The lightness he felt on him didn't make him feel more at ease. In five minutes he might be unconscious or dead. He needed to think carefully if he wanted to outlive this fight.

"You should feel honored, kid." Kisame started with his ever-present grin. Itachi rolled his eyes in anticipation. "You're gonna witness the strength of one of the seven swordsmen of the mist." Naruto found the humor to sneer at that.

"Already have. Not that strong if you ask me, Kakashi-sensei defeated Zabuza twice."

"Zabuza? Don't compare me to that piece of trash. He was one of the weakest. I'll show you what a true swordsman is." With that, the blue-colored man gripped the hilt of his giant sword.

"Prepare nine-tails." He grinned as he brandished his bandaged sword. Kisame approached at great speed and Naruto's grip on his two kunai strengthened. The length of the kunai didn't help against that of Kisame's sword, the blond decided as Kisame raised his arm. Instead of trying to match his strength in a clash of knife vs. sword, Naruto jumped to the side as the enormous blade came down at him. Just in time, also. The great weapon smashed against the ground, crumbling the concrete below. Naruto didn't have time to be surprised, since the man was pivoting in place with a back kick directed to his face.

The blond managed to place his arms protectively to his face, but the impact sent him flying backwards and into the passing river.

"Damn." The whiskered boy gasped, kneeling on the water surface, his forearms throbbing painfully. _'Even though that sword must weight a ton, the bastard can swing it like a feather.' _

"You should be proud of yourself, Kyuubi. It's not common for a thirteen-year old to survive my first two moves." The fish man said with a smirk.

"I'm still twelve." Replied the Uzumaki, incorporating to his feet.

"All the more merit, then." The shark guy laughed, his pointy teeth showing. He lifted his sword so it was resting in his right shoulder. "Let's get serious now." He jumped from the concrete floor to the calm water, just a few feet from Naruto. The boy took out another kunai.

"That's not gonna help." Just after Kisame was done saying that, he disappeared in a blur. _"Fast!" _Naruto didn't have time to blink because the shark-wannabe was already right above him, his giant weapon gripped with both hands and falling on top of him. The whiskered kid realized he didn't have time to dodge, so he just crossed both kunai in front of him and hoped for the best.

Water splashed everywhere. The collision was so strong that Naruto lost his focus and the chakra around his feet disappeared, making him drown. Water filled his lungs; the blond was barely aware that the kunai had splintered under the sword's force. Luckily the knifes didn't shattered completely, or Naruto would have lost both his hands.

The Hoshigaki was standing calmly on the place he landed, looking down at the river. Water was still falling like rain and he couldn't see Naruto clearly because the river was too agitated. He did see his golden mane, so he kneeled over and grabbed a handful. Kisame pulled.

The blond emerged from the water with a grunt of pain. He was also coughing, and his kunai were missing.

"Did you feel it, boy? That was one-fifth of my strength." Kisame boasted, his thick hair now wet. The man raised Naruto even more so he could see his face. Naruto was smirking.

"What-" Suddenly something grabbed Kisame by his left foot. Pain instantly shot from his feet to his brain. He jumped rapidly, letting go of the blond.

"Clever boy." He said, but this time the smirk was gone. There was a blotch of blood growing larger on the water surface. "You used the confusion to create a clone; should have expected that, since I was told you like playing with those."

The kage bunshin was climbing out of the water, with the splintered kunai, covered in Kisame's blood. Naruto couldn't laugh like he wanted too due to liquid still on his lungs. There was blood running down his hands. The broken pieces of metal had pierced his skin. Naruto coughed one more time.

"I'm not done playing yet." Naruto said with a rough voice. He was trying to smile.

"You'll be done after this one, brat." Kisame took a step closer, but stopped when he felt the water below moving. This time he jumped in the air; he wasn't about to get stabbed again. Eight clones jumped from the water, following Kisame up in the air. Each of them had one battered kunai. A sound of surprise escaped the shark-guy's mouth; the clones were screaming as they tried to stab him. The missing-nin extended his blade and swung it as far as he could, trying to reach all of the kage bunshins. His sword, connected to his long arm reached six clones; they puffed out of existence at Samehada's touch. With his other hand he summoned a kage bunshin of his own, so it could guard him from the clones behind him.

"He got you." Kisame heard Itachi saying quietly from the side of the river. He was going to turn to him and say that the clones didn't even wounded him this time, when a sizzling sound came flying to him. His little eyes widened as he deduced what was coming without even looking.

A loud explosion reverberated through the nearby trees surrounding the canal. Itachi looked impassibly at the body covered in smoke falling back to the water.

Naruto hoped that his explosive tag had caused the murderer some damage. That was the last good idea he could think of. He also had only one water-proof explosive tag left; those things were expensive.

His enemy fell heavily on the canal rails flanking the river, bending them over with his weight. Kisame then proceeded to fall onto the water again, but he didn't submerge. The blond watched expectantly. He could see Kisame's hair and right hand slightly burnt; it was his only body part injured. Naruto cursed colorfully, how could he have avoided damage with such a direct hit? He found his answer when he saw the sword. Its bandages had been burnt off, showing razor sharp, teeth-like units making up the "blade" of the sword. Kisame had blocked the explosion with his sword… and it wasn't even damaged.

"That's a wicked looking sword." The blond said, feeling his chances of surviving rounding up to zero.

"It also does some wicked stuff." The Mist shinobi said. His smile was wider than ever. Naruto gulped, he didn't like the menacing tone the man had in his voice. "Like this."

As soon as he finished talking, Kisame appeared in front of him, blade following. The blond rolled to the side again, but this time he wasn't fast enough. The blade reached him in the upper arm, and the pain that followed was excruciating. It wasn't like when Zabuza had cut him with his sword, this felt like someone was sawing his skin apart.

Naruto screamed in pain, as he held his arm with his hand. Warm blood scurried from his abnormal wound. His knees began to submerge but he was brought up again, by Kisame grabbing his hair again with his burnt hand and lifting him up.

"What? No kage bunshins this time?" he mocked. Kisame turned to his sword that, strangely, was wiggling. "How did you like it Samehada? Was it good? He is the Kyuubi jinchuriki after all." The man laughed again.

"What…" The blond said through gritted teeth but couldn't finish due to the pain.

"Samehada is its name and, as you could witness first hand, it does not cut but, rather, it shreds the skin." Looking closer at the damn thing, Naruto could see that it was made of shark scales… scales sharp as hell.

"Beautiful isn't it? And that's not its only cool trait; it can absorb chakra too, and when Samehada likes the chakra, it wiggles happily. Like this."

Naruto could barely stay conscious after Kisame's next move. The missing-nin placed Samehada next to the blond's side and slowly ripped his skin off.

Itachi watched boringly as the blond screamed his lungs out. A couple of veins stood out as the boy yelled uncontrollably. Naruto's hands gripped the one Kisame was using to hold his hair. Dark blood poured from the blond's new wound, staining his right torso and pants. Kisame grinned all the while. Slowly, the whiskered-boy hand began to let go of Kisame's. His vision was blurry and his breath was shallow. His blue eyes locked with Kisame's form.

"Look, Itachi, he's gonna pass out." The missing-nin said with a chuckle. He threw the boy over his head with ease, towards his partner. Naruto fell with a loud 'thud' and emitted a faint grunt; he had landed on his injured side. He was now looking at Itachi's sandals. Kisame appeared next to him.

"How long did I take?" Itachi rolled his eyes but answered nonetheless.

"Eleven-minutes."

"Damn." Said Itachi's partner. "I think I'm getting too soft." The Uchiha shook his head.

"You just like to play too much, you even got stabbed in the foot."

Kisame smirked at his comment. He looked down at his foot, that was still bleeding. "He's a sneaky bastard." Kisame turned to Naruto again. There was a small puddle of red liquid starting to form under him.

"He's out. Let's go now, Itachi. That explosion might have caught someone's attention."

"It already did." His comrade answered, looking at someone he hadn't seen in years.

Sasuke didn't make a sound, but his Sharingan eyes showed every bit of hatred he held against his older brother. The younger Uchiha had just appeared from behind the trees, his hands had begun to move in a series of hand seals. They finally stopped, as he extended his right hand forward and invoked the name of the technique.

"**Chidori*!" **Naruto, his consciousness wavering, watched as a flash of bright light appeared on Sasuke's hand. It was accompanied with high-pitched noises, like irritated birds trapped in a net.

"Move aside, Kisame. I'm gonna catch up with my brother." Itachi said calmly. The blond swore he saw Itachi's eyes widen in surprise for a second, but it might have just been tricks of his mind. It was probably that, because breathing was each time harder and that meant his brain was getting every time less oxygen. He couldn't let Sasuke counter his brother alone. Even if he could help, they wouldn't make it. Those guys were way too strong. _'And I'm about to pass out.' _The wounded boy thought. _'I need to do something.' _He closed his eyes.

Sasuke rushed forward, feeling his leg muscles with every step. They were firm, like his goal. His red eyes now rested on Itachi's heart. His right arm felt heavy with power; he could now imagine how it would be, when he held Itachi's warm heart on his hand and he could, finally, avenge his clan.

"**DIE!"** He screamed, his voice thick with hatred. Itachi watched him impassibly as he approached, his Sharingan was not even activated, and that made Sasuke even angrier. He pushed chakra to his legs to make them stronger, he sped up. They were about to crash.

The Chidori was still chirping when they met. Itachi was fast enough to grab his sibling's wrist and deviated to the right, far enough so he could be save from the attack. They were so close now.

"Sasuke." Itachi started, his eyes looking down on him; he had activated his own Sharingan. Sasuke watched him startled, not believing that his strongest attack hadn't even touched him. "You're still weak." With that said, Itachi pressed his wrist until it broke. Sasuke screamed, but still watched his brother with wrath. Rapidly, he tried to reach a knife from his back pouch with his free hand, but Itachi was quicker. His hand grabbed him by his neck with such a force that the boy's oxygen was cut out immediately. The Akatsuki member proceeded to raise him in the air and then smash him on the concrete. The genin emitted a chocked sound.

"I'm… I'm going to k-kill you for slaughtering our family and… and for hurting Naruto." Sasuke said with a lot of effort. His blood eyes looking directly at his brother's. This almost made Itachi smile.

"How are you going to do that?" He asked, hardening his grip. Kisame was watching this with a permanent grin on his blue face. "If you have one broken wrist and almost no power at all."

Sasuke didn't respond, but continued to stare at Itachi. His Sharingan had an extra tomoe around his pupil, he noticed.

"I have gotten s-stronger." The boy declared angrily. "Just for the sake of k-killing you."

"But I have gotten stronger also. The gap between our powers is still tremendous." Itachi's face drew closer to Sasuke's. "Do you hate me, Sasuke?"

"I do!" Sasuke tried to scream.

"It is still not enough." He punched Sasuke so hard that the ground beneath him crumbled. The genin didn't have air to scream out. Blood scampered out of his mouth and into the side of his face. "Now stop interfering, I have no interest in you right now."

"What are you trying to do?" He heard Kisame's voices yell. The elder Uchiha turned his head to see an orange cloak around the bloody body of the Kyuubi container. Naruto was now kneeling and his hands were on a cross shape; his wounds were still bleeding profusely. There was a kunai attached with an explosive tag on his mouth. _'Has he awakened the Kyuubi?' _The Uchiha wondered.

Naruto bit the kunai handle harder as he incorporated to his knees. To move was agony; his right was barely responding, and his torso kept him from moving freely. A fresh wave of blood erupted from his wounds at the movements, it seemed they were too deep for the fox's borrowed chakra to heal them immediately.

If Naruto were to accept one tail from the Kyuubi, they would heal almost immediately; like it happened with Orochimaru. But the blond could just take a pinch from the fox. If he dared take more, Kyuubi would overpower his mind given he was in the middle of consciousness. _'I'll have to use the chakra I have just for the technique.'_

Before Kisame could swing the sword at him, Naruto convoked his technique quick enough: over fifty clones appeared in an instant, each with a knife on their mouth. They weren't bleeding like the real one was.

'_The kid is smart.' _ He thought, as he quickly jumped back from the teenage blond.

Two clones went to get Sasuke, while the rest jumped towards the two Akatsuki members. The ones following Itachi threw their knifes, all directed to his heart. The tags began to sizzle with fire. Itachi performed a fire jutsu on the oncoming kunai as he jumped back. The jutsu was big enough to engulf the knifes and the clones. This provoked a series of vicious, strident explosions.

Kisame's jutsu summoned water from the river and molded it into a giant wall of water, which absorbed the kunai.

"That should do." He started to laugh but stopped once he saw how the floating kunai started to blow off. "Damn it, they're water proof."

The tags demolished Kisame's jutsu but didn't do any damage to the mist-nin. The man summoned water once again but this time he molded it onto knifes that look solid enough to kill a man. He sent them towards the rushing clones. They all disappeared on a puff of smoke.

"W-What are you d-doing?" Sasuke asked weakly to the blond. Naruto looked worse for wear, but the chakra around him seemed to keep him on his feet.

"Trying to save our lives." He responded tiredly, he was shaking all over. It was time to try his most powerful technique… hopefully he could actually make it. He looked at his right arm and shook his head. He needed his two hands to start spinning the chakra. Suddenly he had an idea. "Come here, I need your help." He called over to a clone. Sasuke watched intensely.

"I'm going to definitively cut both your arms, so you stop messing around!" Kisame yelled over the explosions near Itachi. There were no clones left to fight them, just a big smoke screen over the blond.

"Give it up brat! We have to be somewhere else!" Kisame called. The smoke was going away, and as it did, there was a shining spot in the center of it all.

"Kisame, step back!" Itachi yelled from his position. The fish looking man turned his head to him.

"What?" Just as he said that, Naruto came out of the smoke with breakneck speed. Just as he approached, Kisame swung his blade, trying to cut him off before he reached him. There was an orange ball spinning in place on his palm. Naruto jumped before he got hit by the sword and, before Kisame could make another move, pushed his arm into Kisame's chest.

"**Rasengan*!" **The blond screamed. He watched as the Rasengan pushed against Kisame's cloak, ripping it apart. Hopefully this will kill him.

After a few seconds, Kisame was thrown a few feet back by Naruto's technique. He skidded a couple of times on his back until he came to rest. The attack did something similar to the blond: the force sent him backwards, where he collided with a tree. Kyuubi's chakra stopped emanating around the blond. Naruto could only stare at his body shaking uncontrollably. He started to scream in pain again. Samehada's cuts had deepened; the blond was almost positive his arm was going to fall at any given second.

The world became fuzzy. He watched groggily as Kisame stood up slowly, his body bent forward, hand placed over his reddened belly. Naruto couldn't tell for sure but he thought he could see the muscle beneath the skin of Kisame's stomach. There was blood running down the man's belly and mouth. The man staggered and almost fell but he remained on his feet. Naruto saw him cough more blood; Kisame started saying something. He was sure the man was screaming at him. Kisame gathered Samehada from the floor and started running towards him.

'_That's that.' _Naruto thought; too tired to show any real emotion. The blond closed his eyes and let his head fall forward, ready to take the blow. His mind shut down before he knew what came next.

/

Warm sunbeams caressed his face gently. His eyes started to respond to the light. They had a hard time adjusting to it but he could finally open them a little bit, just enough to scan his surroundings. Naruto saw the window that let the sunlight in, then he turned to the other side and he saw Sasuke lying on a bed not too far from him.

There were voices talking. He could not guess who the owners of those voices were. He couldn't make out what they were saying. Shadows with the form of humans hovered over him. Naruto kept staring at the blurry forms for a moment before dizziness overcame again.

The Uzumaki lost consciousness.

/

Voices again. A conversation was taking place at his right. He didn't feel so dizzy this time. He opened his eyes again, they obeyed with ease since the only light coming from the window was moonlight. He then became aware of the patches attached to his chest and sides; they connected to a heart monitor on his left. It was emitting slow beats that showed his heart rate. There was also a serum bag hovering over his head, hanging from a metal bracket. It was almost empty.

"Tsunade-sama, he's waking up." Naruto recognize the voice of Tsunade's young assistant. Hurried steps shuffled over to him.

"How are you feeling, Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked with a kind smile as she bent a little over him. The blond tried to speak but only a hoarse grunt came out of his mouth; his throat was completely dry. The young medic-nin went immediately to the bathroom to get him a glass of water.

"Better?" Tsunade asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Yeah." The blond responded. He tried to shift to a more vertical position but a sharp pain shot through his entire body.

"Stay still." Ordered Tsunade sternly. "Your cuts aren't healed yet."

Naruto used his left hand to raise his shirt collar and take a look at his heavily bandaged torso. The bandages reminded him of Samehada.

"What happened?"

"Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma arrived just in time. Asuma blocked Kisame's sword just before it hit you. They retreated after that." Tsunade answered.

"How long have I been out?" he asked, now talking a glance to his right arm.

"Four days. Although yesterday you seemed to regain some consciousness, but it was only for a little while." Shizune said as she wrote something down on a clipboard.

"I remember that." The blond said. He turned to Tsunade. "Four days… and they're still this bad?"

"That wasn't a simple laceration. That sword almost ripped your arm off. I spent five hours trying to stop that from happening." The woman said seriously. She started to detach the patches from his body. "Your torso was just as bad, but thankfully it didn't reached internal organs. I'm pretty sure that even with the Kyuubi's abilities you'll be having a scar."

Naruto eyed warily at Shizune to see her reaction. She seemed to be aware of the fact but was still taking notes.

"That doesn't make sense. When Orochimaru put a hole in my chest it healed without a single scratch." The blond protested.

"When Orochimaru did that, Kyuubi's chakra was flowing out of your body in large quantities." Tsunade replied. "Now that you just steal a tiny portion of it, the chakra is just enough for some things. For example, when you summoned it to fight Kisame, it was focused on your Rasengan and not on your wounds. If you could have taken more, then your cuts would have probably healed two days ago."

"If I had asked for more, Kyuubi would have taken over." The blond said, pensive. "I was passing out and knew I couldn't control much more… I was too weak."

"Well, let's just see how it works out. The important thing is that you're going to recover completely."

"What about Sasuke?" The blond inquired.

"He wasn't that bad. Only two broken ribs and a broken wrist. But I'm sure he's still in a hell of a shock."

"I could have sworn that he was lying in that bed." The whiskered boy mused.

"He was, but as soon as he woke up he asked to be placed in another room and the nurse complied." Tsunade turned and motioned for the empty bed near the door. _'Why would he?' _The blond thought, feeling a bit insulted that Sasuke wanted to stay away from him. He then remembered that Itachi was his brother and Sasuke needed some alone time so he could cope with the recent encounter.

"Those guys, they-" Tsunade interrupted him.

"Shizune, please go look for another serum bag, this one is running out. Tell the nurse she can stop changing it after 9:00 a.m of tomorrow morning. And also tell her to bring Naruto some food."

"Food!" The blond exclaimed but immediately regretted it. His torso screamed in pain. The woman nodded and left.

"Those guys…" Tsunade continued. "Were Akatsuki members."

"Yes, they told me. They wanted me so they could use the Kyuubi's power." The blond said hotly. Tsunade nodded gravely.

"We had intelligence that they were coming for you but I didn't expect it to be so soon." She had now a sad expression on her eyes. "Forgive me, Naruto. Jiraiya warned me but I was too stubborn thinking about rebuilding the village. If I had just listened to him this wouldn't have happened."

Naruto looked down at his chest again. The necklace Tsunade had gave him was shinning with the moon's light. He hated to see Konoha's Hokage apologizing to him with moisture forming on her eyes.

"It's not your fault. You were right; the Hokage needs to worry more about Konoha than anything else. They would've caught up to me anyways."

"What I want to know is… What would they use Kyuubi for?" The blond asked.

"We don't know but it can't be good. They're trying to collect all of the nine bijuus and, from what Jiraiya has told me, they had succeeded with some." Tsunade said, regaining her composure and now talking seriously.

"What if they attack again?" Naruto wondered out loud. He was met with silence from Tsunade. Finally she spoke,

"Jiraiya and I are trying to come out with a solution for that." The Hokage responded. "In the meantime you just need to recover. Sleep, eat and rest properly. If you do that you may be out of here in less than a week." Shizune had returned with the extra bag and she changed it with the empty one.

"Ugh, I hate hospitals." The blond complained. Shizune giggled.

"Cheer up, boy. Some of your friends will be here tomorrow to accompany you." That didn't seem to cheer Naruto a lot. "And you're now a chuunin. I'll give you the jacket when you're discharged."

"I'm… I'm a what?" The blond asked with his mouth hanging open. This was the last thing he expected. He hadn't thought about the chuunin exams in a long while.

Tsunade smirked.

"Let's go, Shizune." And without saying anything else, they exited the hospital room.

/

It had been a very busy morning from Naruto. He had just woken when the first guest arrived. The blond was delighted to see his former sensei arrive with five coupons for Ichiraku. Iruka talked to the whiskered boy about how he should be more careful and never to engage in battle with two S-Rank criminals. The scarred man stayed until one o'clock, leaving the blond as his lunch arrived. Tsunade had entered the room half-an-hour later to check on him once more. She took off his bandages to take a look at wounds. They look pretty nasty to the boy. Tsunade had him sit straight and the blond was using his left arm to support his upper body since putting pressure on his torso still hurt a lot.

"It never ceases to amaze me a bijuu's healing powers." She said, as she wrapped the blond in clean bandages.

The blond asked how much longer he had to stay in the hospital. The only thing he could do was watch the small TV that hanged from the wall of the room. It never showed any good programs.

"Perhaps just another week."

"_Just?_" The blond exclaimed. "I haven't stayed in the hospital for more than a week."

"That's extremely fast for injuries like these." The woman said sternly.

"I want to get out there quick so I get cool chuunin missions." The blond replied with excitement on his voice. He had barely slept due to the good news.

"You're staying here until you're fully healed." The blond slumped his shoulders. He regretted it immediately as a wave of pain ran through his right arm.

"You can lie back down."

"I'm bored of lying down all day long. Can you at least adjust the bed so I don't have to look at the ceiling?" The blond asked. The Hokage complied but she only lifted the upper side of the bed a bit since it wasn't good for the wound to sustain pressure. She left with a final warning and, after that, Naruto was left alone.

He turned to look at the numerous get-well cards, flowers and balloons. His table stand was full so most of the gifts were arranged on the floor. Iruka told him they were from his friends and the villagers that wished him well being. Naruto was pleasantly surprised at the gesture; that was more than he had received on all of his birthdays combined. The blond looked out the window, where the sun entered freely. His birthday was coming in less than three weeks… would they get him presents as well? Naruto really didn't mind about the presents as much as he did about the good wishes. For twelve years he had received death threats and a few eggs thrown at his windows. He would be satisfied if no one damaged his apartment.

Just as he was becoming all gloomy, someone opened the door. The blond raised his head in curiosity. There was a pair of lavender eyes poking through the door gap. A shy voice followed.

"Uhm… M-May I come in, N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, please!" The blond yelled. He was in the mood for someone his age visiting him. The others were just telling him to be careful and stuff. "Thank Kami, Hin! I was getting tired of old people nagging me about what I should and shouldn't do."

The Hyuuga girl stepped inside slowly, flushing warmly.

"They o-only want what's b-best for you." Said Hinata with a smile on her face. She was wearing her normal ninja outfit minus her usual jacket. Summer was still hitting Konoha full force and Naruto was glad. She looked rather nice.

"H-How are you feeling?" she asked as she approached his bed. There was a chair next to his bed and she claimed it. "Yesterday y-you seemed to w-wake up but…"

"Oh you were there?"Naruto asked, surprised. "Well, Tsunade said I lost a good deal of blood so that's why I was out of it. But today I'm better although I can't move much… But at least I'm not dead, right?" The chuunin used his free hand to scratch his neck with a sheepish expression. He did not expect Hinata's arms wrapping over him.

"I-I-I was s-so worried." The Hyuuga confessed with a broken voice. She couldn't hold back the urge to throw herself to him. The dreadful feeling she was submitted to when they told her he had been attack and was in surgery was indescribable. When she used her byakugan to see him she almost fainted; his chakra was almost all gone and his heart didn't send enough blood to restore the one he lost.

Naruto just laid rooted on the bed. He was so shocked he couldn't formulate any words. Hinata's arms were holding a firm grip on him; they were actually hurting him but he wasn't focused on the pain at that moment.

"Y-Your b-blood was everywhere a-and… and…" She was weeping, Naruto noticed. Her voice was uneven when she spoke and he could feel her cold tears against his neck. Her crying seemed to activate his brain again. It screamed to him to make her stop crying, since hearing Hinata cry was unbearable. The girl wasn't supposed to feel like that; she was a nice human being that only deserved to smile. So he did put his left arm around her shoulders. _'Now say something!' _

"It's okay." Was it? The whole situation was wrong to him. He hadn't felt more awkward in his whole life. "I'm okay, now." That was true. And since she was worried about his well being then that ought to calm her down, right?

But she just kept crying, her back shaking under his arm. Now her perfume was floating all the way to his brain and making him all dizzy. It didn't help when she buried her face on his neck even further.

"Hinata, please…" He was pleading now. This was so weird. "Stop it. There's nothing to worry anymore, I'm alive and I ain't going anywhere anytime soon." He tightened his arm around her. Her shakes started to subside, her arms started to relax.

"C'mon, it's alright." He said soothingly.

"I-I thought… y-you were going t-to…" Hinata whispered against his neck.

"What? Die?" Naruto exclaimed, incredulous. He removed his arm and grabbed her by her shoulder. He made her look at him in the eye. The girl's eyes were watery and a bit puffy. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I won't die until-"

"U-Until you become Hokage." Hinata finished for him. This made Naruto grin. A small smile formed on her lips. Naruto was forcing his grin. He was positive he would die in that battle. He had even just lay down against the tree and accepted his fate… It seemed that Kami had other plans for him.

"I'm sorry f-for…"

"Don't worry about it." The blond said rapidly, waving it off. "Did I really look that bad?"

Hinata nodded shyly, while wiping the tears with her hands.

"Damn. I promise you won't ever catch me again looking like that."

"Please do." The girl said, her usual blush rising to her face again. Naruto chuckled.

"But you know what? At the very end, I made the new jutsu I told you about. For the first time!" Naruto said excitingly.

"It's called the Rasengan. And I shoved it on the bastard's stomach." Naruto called proudly.

"W-What does it do?" Hinata asked with interest. She sat down on the chair again.

"Internal as well as external damage." The blond said. "I mean, when I used it, the guy was thrown backwards with a big bruise on his stomach. And I'm sure there were internal organs fucked up too."

Hinata ignored Naruto's language. She also wanted to avoid talking about the confrontation that had almost killed him.

"C-Congratulations, Naruto-kun." She said. "N-Not only for that but for y-you becoming a chuunin."

"That's right!" The young ninja cried, happily. "Thanks. I was pretty surprised, you know? With all the stuff going on… Was I the only one?" The Hyuuga heiress shook her head.

"Really? Who was it?" Naruto asked, intrigued. He was a little bit let down that he wasn't the only participant to get to chuunin, but it was still exciting.

"G-Guess." Hinata said with a smile.

"All right… Let me see." Naruto ran a hand through his hair which, mind you, was getting longer each day he passed at the hospital. Without his forehead protector it was proving difficult to see properly. "Was it more than one person? No? Okay… is it you?" He asked hopefully, it'd be fun to have Hinata as his partner in missions. Cool missions.

"D-Don't be silly, Naruto-kun." The girl said.

"I'm not! You could've been chosen… if it weren't for that prick you call a cousin."

"Don't say that. H-He already apologized so Neji isn't a-"

"What? He apologized?" Naruto asked, incredulous. "I don't believe it. His ego is the size of the Hokage Mountain."

"Well, he did." Hinata replied, smiling at the fact. Neji had been acting a lot more pleasant around her, and she couldn't be happier.

"Be careful there, Hin. He could be just waiting for you to let your guard down so he c-"

"H-He's not, Naruto-kun. Why don't you keep guessing?" Hinata said with firmness.

"Fine." The blond complied, although not too happy about dropping the subject. "It must be either Shino or Shikamaru… and I think I pick Shino because he's so creepy he scares the bad guys." Hinata emitted a guilty laugh. She admitted that Shino could be weird most of the times. It seemed incredible to her that a while ago she was crying and now laughs escaped her easily. Naruto could truly change your mood dramatically.

"It was Shikamaru-kun." She finally said.

"What? That lazy bastard?" The blond exclaimed, then he laughed. "He was the only one that didn't want to become a chuunin."

"He doesn't seem t-thrilled, but he still wears the chuunin j-jacket all around." The blond continue to laugh for a bit longer, then Hinata decided to take out her present.

"I-I know that you don't get the f-food you like in here so I thought I could bring something d-different for you…" Her shyness had returned with full force. She tried to stop her face from shining red.

"You brought me ramen?" Naruto yelled excitedly.

"No, d-dummy. That would b-be too difficult to smuggle in." Hinata replied.

"Aww." The blond slumped his shoulders dejectedly.

"B-But I could bring these without the nurses noticing." She took out a small bundle from the small purse the brought with her. She handed it to the blond and he noticed it was warm to the touch.

"Whoa! It's been forever since I ate one of those!" The blond grinned. There were four chocolate cookies the size of his hand. They smelled delicious. "Thanks, Hinata! You always seem to know what I need." This made the girl blush harder.

"I bet you baked them." Naruto said with a sheepish grin. Hinata nodded slowly; despite of her blush, she had a smile adorning her delicate features.

He wanted to share with her. Hinata refused at first, like she always did when he offered something to her, but Naruto's insistence made her change her mind. Naruto didn't remember eating something so good. Maybe it was because food tasted so much better when a person cooked something especially for you.

"Are you back on duty yet?" Hinata shook her head.

"Not until next week, but Tsunade-sama s-said it was time to start gathering my strength l-little by little. So I-I'm just doing a basic w-work out every morning."

"I'm gonna train as soon as I get out of here." The blond said munching on his cookie happily. "I'm falling out of shape each passing day." Hinata stood up as he spoke about Jiraiya's training. She headed for the window, where the flowers were placed.

"Whatcha doing?" The young chuunin inquired. She had raised a vase where at least a dozen yellow flowers were resting, then headed for the bathroom.

"They seem t-thirsty." Hinata responded simply. She repeated the procedure with four more vases.

"Oh." The whiskered boy said. "They're going to die anyway."

"But they can live l-longer if someone takes care of them." Hinata said, placing the last vase carefully on the night stand. "Aren't they beautiful?" She asked with a fond expression, admiring the glistening water drops on top of the colorful leaves.

"Sure." Naruto tried not to sound too uninterested. He liked how Hinata adored the simplest things. It was not every day that you could see her wearing such a tender smile. "The one with the red flower's cool."

The Hyuuga princess turned to a flower arrangement that had the red flower on the center; it was surrounded by white tulips.

"That's a red c-carnation." Hinata said, approaching the flower. She leaned closer to the flower; it still smelled good. "It means admiration." The girl said systematically. She knew the name and meaning of most of Konoha's flowers.

"Really? Does it say who sent it?" Naruto asked, his interest perking up a bit. Did someone out there really admire him?

"U-Uhm…" The raven haired girl started to stutter in mild panic. Of course she knew, she was the one who bought it after all. Luckily she hadn't attached any card to it. "N-No, there's no card on it."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders in a "what-are-you-gonna-do" manner. Then he hissed in pain as the movement hurt his arm. Hinata scolded him lightly and they continued to talk for fifteen more minutes, until someone arrived to the room to take Hinata home.

"Hinata-sama, the elders' lecture will start in less than twenty minutes." Neji said politely from under the door frame. Naruto and Hinata's conversation halted abruptly. Hinata responded just as polite,

"Thank you Neji-niisan. I had forgotten." Naruto glared at the older boy coldly, while the Hyuuga genius just looked at him contemplatively. The girl stood up and turned to the blond. "I hope you feel better, Naruto-kun." She didn't notice the Kyuubi container's look since he changed it as soon as she turned to him.

"Will do, Hin. And thanks for stopping by." He replied with a big, foxy grin. With a slight blush and a smile, the girl left the room, calling for Neji to hurry.

"Uzumaki-san." Neji said simply, with a nod of his head. Naruto didn't respond to any of what he did or say, so Neji just turned around and left.

/

"Would you like me to cut it down for you?" Sakura asked happily with a bright, red apple on her hand. It was the first time she could visit him without Ino tagging along, since the blond girl had to help on her family's shop. "I don't mind; and I could also peel it off if you prefer it that way."

Sasuke didn't give any sign that he was listening, so the Haruno decided she would do both for the Uchiha. The Hokage's assistant had pass by an hour ago to tell him that his ribs were almost fully healed and he could go home in less than two days. He had been in the hospital for a little bit more than a week and he was getting sick of the place. Sasuke had stopped feeling pain when he moved for about three days. He looked at the dark screen of the TV monitor, just to see something different from the hospital park, that could be seen from his window.

"Do you want to watch TV?" The green-eyed girl piped rapidly. She started to get up to reach the remote but Sasuke stopped her.

"Don't. I don't like watching TV." The boy said with annoyance.

"Oh, ok." She continued to her labor of peeling the apple.

Sasuke turned to look at the only item resting on his night table. It was glinting with the sunrays right on his face. _'Itachi.' _He snarled mentally at the Konoha head band while he clenched his fists. He had woken up a day before Naruto, with crying Sakura wrapping her arms around him. The disorientation didn't last long; as soon as he saw his blond partner lying motionless near him, a wave of hatred washed over him. He immediately asked to be removed from the room.

'_Two times you've saved my life now.' _Sasuke thought bitterly. Every time he looked back at the events, a sense of inferiority struck the Uchiha painfully. He had been sour about his interference with his fight with Gaara, but that time he wasn't able to use the Chidori. Sasuke was sure that Kakashi's technique would compensate for any jutsu Naruto could manage… But he was wrong.

The Rasengan. Sasuke couldn't see its power well but Naruto was able to hit his opponent, instead of Sasuke. _'It was orange. Is that possible? Was it part of the jutsu?' _ Every time he watch Naruto fight some part of him told him that he was cheating in some way. Not only while he fought Akatsuki, but also fighting the Shukaku. _'Maybe with Orochimaru also?' _Sasuke massaged the place on his shoulder where the curse mark was located. What is it with him? What's his secret?

It seemed that with each step Sasuke took forward, Naruto took two. _'When did this happen?' _

I'm a Uchiha, the strongest clan Konoha ever had. Naruto is just an orphan, a nobody and still… still. _'He's stronger than me.' _ It killed the raven-haired boy to admit that. He clenched his teeth. _'He's even a chuunin now, for fuck's sake!' _Sasuke was the clear choice! Numerous nobles and landlords from Konoha's surroundings travelled to Konoha just to see Uchiha Sasuke battle at the chuunin exams. But not just Naruto got picked but also that Nara bastard. How is that even possible? The idiot just slept or complained all day long.

'_This village has lost all sense of logic.' _Sasuke concluded. They preferred to choose two nobodies instead of members of the best clans of Konoha. They ignored the Hyuugas and even an Uchiha. The last Uchiha.

His brothers eyes flashed in his mind.

"_Stop interfering." _The eyes spoke. "_I have no interest in you right now." _

Even Naruto was worthier on Itachi's eyes than him. That revealed something to Sasuke; he couldn't defeat his brother if he didn't surpass Naruto first. He raised his left hand, the one he used to make the Chidori. _'If this technique touched your body you'll be dead right now, Itachi.' _Naruto could be getting pretty good but Sasuke knew that his Chidori was stronger than his technique.

'_Naruto couldn't kill that man with the Rasengan. Mine would have.' _He was pretty sure of this thoughts. The problem was that he couldn't touch Itachi, while Naruto got his opponent flat on the stomach.

"Here you go, Sasuke-kun. Hope you like it!" Sakura handed the plate of freshly cut and peeled apple to his crush with a cute smile. Sasuke escaped his musings and regarded the plate coldly. _'Why can't she understand that I don't want her here? I don't want anyone here!' _His mind worked a solution rapidly. He swapped his hand against the plate, sending it towards the clean wall and smashing it into pieces. Sakura stared at her crush with hurt, bewildered eyes.

"Wh-What?"

"You're such a nuisance." Sasuke replied. His hitai-ite continued to reflect light into his eyes.

"The hell was that about?" Naruto stepped into the room promptly. He was in a blue shirt and a pair of black shorts. He was supposed to leave in four more days but the Kyuubi's influence on his body worked its magic again. Sasuke and Sakura turned to look at him. The girl seemed as she was going to cry. "Is it your time of the month or something?"

"Get out, both of you." Sasuke snarled angrily. His rage was boiling up at the sight of the Uzumaki.

"But, Sasuke-kun…" Sakura protested weakly, with a catch in her throat.

"Apologize to her." Naruto said with a frown. "She didn't deserve that." His tone was commanding… at least it sounded that way to Sasuke.

"I'm not taking orders from you. Not even I you are a chuunin now." The Uchiha retorted. Naruto clenched his teeth. _'So that's what this is all about.' _

"You're acting like a douche, Sasuke." Naruto said. Sasuke picked some kind of sadness in his look. _'He pities me!' _He thought with fury. That look was driving him mad. His brother's words echoed louder on his mind.

"_I have no interest in you right now." _

"…_No interest…"_

"_In you."_

'_Just for Naruto, right?' _His fists were shaking now. _'I'll show you, Itachi.' _

"Fight me, Naruto." Sasuke said. His words caught both Naruto and Sakura off guard.

"What?" They both asked at the same time. How did that even fit the conversation they were having?

"I said fight me." Repeated the Uchiha, swinging himself from the bed.

"Fine, I'll spar with you as soon as you get out of the hospital. But first apologize to Sakura, you owe her that." Sasuke's eyes switched from Naruto's to Sakura's, then right back to Naruto's. He dismissed the pink-haired girl's presence.

"Let's fight now." He stood up. They were now eye leveled. Naruto discovered, with astonishment, that Sasuke had summoned the Sharingan.

"Now?" The whiskered boy asked, incredulous. The request diverted his interest on Sasuke's apology. "But you are still incapacitated." Sasuke smirked at this. Naruto spoke as his friend was about to walk out the door.

"You're forgetting your headband." He pointed to the night stand. The Uchiha looked back at the blond to see if he was joking; when he discovered Naruto's serious face he laughed derisively.

"Stop joking and let's go." Sasuke continued to walk, bare-footed, towards the corridor. The Uchiha had pissed the blond off, and Sakura noticed.

"Naruto, what are you-"

"I'm gonna teach him a lesson." He said, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

/

"Are you crazy? If something happened to the hospital, a good deal of people could get hurt." The blond protested as he stood under the door that lead to the hospital roof.

"The only one that's gonna get hurt is you." Sasuke said with a sneer. Naruto's nostrils widened with anger.

"We could do this at any training ground." The blond continued to negotiate. Why the rush?

"It's gonna happen here and now." The Uchiha said with fierce confidence. Naruto just frowned. It freaked him out a bit that those blood-red eyes stared at him with such angriness.

"I'm not going to do this here." The blond continued firmly. He walked towards Sasuke, at the center of the big surface. Sakura was standing aside with a worried look on her face. "And I'm not gonna fight you if you don't wear your forehead protector; it'd be wrong otherwise!"

Sasuke waved his comment aside.

"It'd be a short fight, I promise." Sasuke smirked. "We will only use one jutsu each."

Naruto's eyes widened with horror. "You can't be serious." The last Uchiha grinned.

"It'd be too dangerous, Sasuke! You could get killed!" The blond called, getting anxious by the moment. _'Why would you wanna take it so far? Does this has to do with your brother also?'_

"As far as I know, you're the one with the most chances of dying." Sasuke replied.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura intervened nervously. "You're not doing this! No one is going to die!"

"Step away Sakura, this doesn't concern you." Sasuke said dismissively.

"I'm not doing this." The blond repeated. Right now he thought Sasuke deserved a smack across his face… with a hammer. Sasuke looked at him coldly.

"You will." Sasuke said as he crouched down and started making a series of hand signs. "I won't give you a choice."

"Sasuke, don't." Naruto warned, his hands were starting to sweat. The Uchiha had finished his ritual and now his right hand was holding tightly his left one. Blue energy was concentrating on his extremity.

"You can´t do this!" The blond now screamed, fear in his voice. This could end badly. The air was staring to reverberate with the chirping of birds. "Listen to me, this is just wrong!"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled in alarm. This was the first time she saw Sasuke's strongest jutsu. Their voices were muffled by the strident noise of the Chidori.

"This is your last chance, Naruto!" Sasuke bellowed. His hand was covered in bright, blue dynamic chakra.

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto yelled. Right now he could feel Sasuke's chakra talking to him. It was confused but filled with hatred. It wanted to hurt him. Not only that; searching deeper at the energy, the whiskered chuunin felt that it wanted to kill him. _'Why…' _

"Stop this now, teme! Or else…" Sasuke ignored his plead.

"**CHIDORI!" **The jutsu was now complete, and Sasuke started to move forward. Naruto cursed under his breath. He started pushing chakra on his right palm with his other hand in random directions. He had only managed it one time but he remembered how he did it, and he had a feeling that this was going to work. His life depended on it. _'Why are you doing this, Sasuke?' _He repeated constantly on his head, every time his palm ejected a new pulse of chakra.

Soon there was a ball of constricted energy rotating evenly on his palm. This time the chakra was blue and it felt right on Naruto's hand.

"There's still time to end this!" He cried one last time, hoping his teammate would appeal to reason. But Sasuke was blind with rage, charging over at him and screaming at the top of his lungs.

Naruto emitted a scream of his own as he tried to move towards his unexpected opponent. He found he couldn't move his feet. Naruto realized he didn't have the heart to direct such an attack to his friend. His blue irises watched as Sasuke came closer at him, Sharingan eyes staring at his heart. Naruto stood rooted to the ground as the Uchiha jumped towards him, his Rasengan fading slowly, energy dispersing into the air. _'I´m your friend. _ He could only look into the boy's eyes and couldn't believe the hatred directed at him. Suddenly he was feeling furious with the dark-haired boy; why does he always need to have it his way?

'_I won't give you the satisfaction.' _He thought angrily, Rasengan completely gone. His cerulean eyes flashed a hungry red for a millisecond, but it was enough to Sasuke to see it with his Sharingan activated.  
_'There it is. Whatever gives him power, I just saw it!' _His eyes also captured a horrifying image as well.

Sakura was running towards their direction, tears falling down her eyes.

"Shit." The Uchiha said. He was in free fall and it was too late to cancel the technique. Naruto was also aware of Sakura approaching them. Panic ran down his spine. He didn't have to shut down his weights since Tsunade didn't want him to use them for at least one more week.

Naruto leaped to the right rapidly and grabbed the dark-haired boy's forearm, then pivoted over his body, taking Sasuke with him. The Uchiha's jutsu almost hit Sakura, but Naruto released the boy and sent him flying over the water suppliers of the hospital.

/

Kakashi heard the clamor of metal being crushed, and then there was the sound of abundant water hitting concrete loudly. That noise didn't bother him as much as the chirping birds he heard a few seconds ago.

'_Damn.' _He cursed mentally, putting away his book. He had a bad feeling about what was happening above him. Had Itachi come back to finish with the only relative he left alive all those years ago?

He created a cloak of chakra around his feet and started to run alongside the wall of the hospital building. The Hatake was on his way to picking Naruto up so they could show up before the Hokage and had the formal promotion procedure, where his student and he would have to sign some papers.

He made it to the top in thirty-seconds, the mask upon his face sprinkled with water that was falling from the roof. There was someone screaming. He felt relieved when he distinguished the Uzumaki's voice roaring on top of the building. But the words that he was speaking didn't comfort him.

"You almost killed her!" Naruto's neck had a big vein throbbing on it, his finger was pointing at a shocked Sakura. "And if I hadn't thrown you away, this roof would've collapsed! Kami knows how many could have been injured."

The blond had Sasuke by the collar of his shirt. The whiskered boy's hands were badly burned, as well as his forearms. Sasuke opened his mouth to retort but Naruto wasn't done.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?"

"What is wrong with _you_? Chickening out at the last minute… I thought you had balls." The Uchiha accused hotly.

"It's called common sense." The blond replied, surprised that Sasuke didn't care about the consequences. He was always someone who taught ahead. "And there was no point in using my technique… you couldn't even touch me with yours."

Sasuke pulled back his lips, showing his canines. He had been swiped out of the way like a rag doll. The only target he had managed to hit with the Chidori had been the rocks he had practiced with. The blond was still speaking.

"This isn't right, Sasuke. I know that the encounter with your brother stunned you a lot but that does-"

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK HIS NAME IN FRONT OF ME!" Sasuke exploded; fine drops of saliva shot from his mouth. The prodigy slapped Naruto's hand away. Naruto took a step back.

"Don't talk about something you don't understand!" He was breathing rapidly, his Sharingan had reactivated with his outburst.

"Sasuke-kun, please…" The girl spoke. Her eyes reflected the troubling sensation she felt at seeing the object of her affections in that state.

"Shut up." The Uchiha spat fiercely.

At that moment Kakashi dropped from the balcony rails to the roof. They all turned to see him.

"You don't get it." He said defiantly, wiping spit off his chin with the back of his hand. The look his team was giving him unnerved him. Sasuke leaped from his place towards a nearby branch. He looked one last time over his shoulder. "None of you get it." He said softly to himself. Then he was gone.

"Don't!" Sakura called for him, taking a step forward and ready to follow the disturbed child. A firm hand on her shoulder stopped her. It was her teacher.

"But sensei…" she protested, her eyes looking up at his pleadingly.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him." The Hatake reassured her. He then turned to the blond.

"Well done, Naruto. You acted like a chuunin back there. Who knows what would've happened if you have retaliated?" Naruto nodded his head with a serious expression on his face.

'_One of us would have ended up dead.' _Naruto answered in his mind, gloomily.

"He's changed, sensei." The blond said, looking at his feet. "Something happened to him, and I'm sure it was triggered by the meeting with Itachi."

"We can talk about this later." Kakashi said expressly. "Go home, Sakura. Naruto, why don't you go back inside and show those to the nurse?"

"No way. I'm sick of being hospitalized; I'm not spending one more minute in there."

"I can heal them partially." Sakura said humbly. Man and boy raised their eyebrows.

"Did Tsunade finally agreed to teach you?" Naruto asked, knowing Sakura's request to the Hokage. Sakura approached Naruto and put her hands over his smoking arms. Green chakra started glowing around her hands.

"She's still thinking about it, but she has recommended me to read some books, and Shizune lets me go with her to see how she heals some patients." The girl said with a small smile.

"Hopefully she will accept, a medic-nin in a team is very valuable." Kakashi commented, heading towards Sasuke's way. "Naruto, when she finishes with you, would you mind reporting with the Hokage without me? I'd sign those forms tomorrow."

"Sure." The blond responded, watching in interest as the red streaks over his arms started to regain their normal color slowly. "Just make sure he doesn't do something stupid."

Kakashi smiled at them before leaving. _'I cannot guarantee. I can just talk to him.' _He thought gravely.

/

***Chidori : **A thousand birds

***Rasengan: **Spiraling Sphere

**Author's section**

**Yeah, I think that's my longest chapter ever: 12K words. **

**I'm also thinking of finishing this volume up when Naruto goes training and creating another one to continue it. I don't want this story to have too many chapters. **

**Well… C'ya later**

**AND**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

** - Patty**


	30. Chapter 30

**NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**And yet another one. Enjoy!**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 30

His knuckles shattered the bark covering the tree in hundred of fragments. He didn't feel a thing on his hand, but the thoughts on his mind were filling him with numerous emotions. Sasuke thought he was going to explode eventually.

'_My strongest attack…' _The dark haired pre-teen played the encounter on his mind again. _'He didn't even need his Rasengan. He was just going to do it to please me…' _

Sasuke could see the pity hiding behind the frustration on Naruto's eyes. It was faint but it was there.

'_With just his bare hands…' _

Naruto made him look slow and, above anything else, weak. The blond mocked him openly with his actions and with his words. _'Just because you're a chuunin now, isn't that it?' _His lips rose up to his gums into a deep snarl; his teeth were clashing against each other. _'I'm an Uchiha.' _He thought bitterly.

"I'm an Uchiha!" Sasuke repeated, this time with an angry yell to no one. How could they overlook the last Uchiha in the village? How could they find Naruto worthier than him?

…

Itachi's image started forming on the young boy's mind.

How could _he _find Naruto worthier than him?

His brother's voice reverberated through his mind:

"_I have no interest in you..."_

For all these years the only interest Sasuke had, the only goal that existed for him was killing his brother. But deep inside Sasuke also wanted him to acknowledge his strength; that way he would be the only person in the world worthy of taking his life.

And Naruto was taking away that from him. The Uchiha's legs began to lose their strength, until finally they buckled from under him. Sasuke sat heavily on the branch, his back facing the tree.

He had spent his ninja career to become stronger than anyone; but the Uzumaki had taken a step forward and _miraculously _gotten ahead from him.

'_What are you hiding, Naruto?' _Sasuke asked himself for the nth-time. His blue eyes flashed red in front of his eyes, and in that moment the Uchiha knew that Naruto didn't get stronger with normal training, like he always said. There is something else to the whiskered boy than meets the eye and that made the Uchiha extremely mad.

He had lied to him, and that justified his conduct earlier that day. Also, he had provoked his rage further by mentioning his brother's name. _'He didn't have the right.' _Sasuke told himself.

But as he examined his thoughts more carefully, he realized that his conduct might have been uncalled for. He had almost hurt Sakura and Naruto, and deep inside he didn't want to do that, but his sense of frustrated revenge made him do all that horrible stuff.

"This is all fucked up." He spoke to no one… or at least he thought so. A voice responded from above him.

"I've never been a fan of cursing..." His sensei said thoughtfully. "…But I do agree with you."

Sasuke's face contracted in an irritated gesture at Kakashi's presence.

"I don't want to talk to anyone." He said and leaped forward with the intention of getting down from the tree and going somewhere else. But his body found fine wire wrapping around his body and pulling him backwards harshly, tying him tightly to the tree he had been talking to.

"Too bad, Sasuke." The Hatake said, landing in front of him. His book was nowhere to be seen. "I will be talking to you and you're going to listen, like it or not." Sasuke made no attempt to break free since he knew that Kakashi would find another way to restrain him. He just looked away with a sour face.

"Do you know why I taught you the Chidori?"Kakashi started, kneeling in front of him. His eye didn't reveal any emotion but his voice was tainted with something that felt like mild disappointment.

"I thought you had grown mentally enough to handle an advanced technique." Kakashi answered, not waiting for Sasuke to say anything. "I thought you were mature enough, you know? Competent." That was not the only reason he showed Sasuke the Chidori; the young Uchiha was his favorite student and Kakashi wanted him to grow strong and successful… not that he was going to admit that to anybody.

"Don't lecture me like a little kid." Sasuke warned from his position.

"You acted like a little kid today, so I think my tone is appropriate." Sasuke clenched his teeth but said nothing.

"You directed that technique towards your team." Kakashi stated gravely.

"Towards Naruto." Sasuke retorted promptly. "Sakura was dumb enough to get in our fight."

"It isn't a fight if your opponent doesn't attacks or defends himself." The man's eye fell on his student heavily. "Even when Naruto didn't do a thing you still were going to use him as a target."

"It was his choice." Sasuke spat, recalling the moment. "He didn't responded because he was being a – "

"A friend?" Kakashi interrupted. "Those attacks, Rasengan and Chidori, are so powerful they could kill easily. Apparently you forgot that, and dived in towards your teammate."

Sasuke's eyes lowered slowly.

"I wasn't going to kill him… I just wanted to test my strength." He admitted. His sensei sighed heavily, folding his arms neatly over his chest.

"I can understand that seeing Itachi stunned you greatly…"

Sasuke lifted his gaze again, a new wave of anger filling his irises, but the Hatake did not falter on his speech.

"I know what I'm about to say is a delicate subject to you, but you need to hear this." The Uchiha frowned.

"You must not let your brother's appearance affect your relationships with your friends." He looked at Sasuke, who was staring at him intently. "Naruto, Sakura and I care for you, that's the reason for our concern."

The dark-eyed boy felt moved by the last part.

"Believe me, Sasuke. Friends like that are really hard to find and they can be easily driven away if you treat them wrongly."

"I don't need this talk." Sasuke said finally, his tone annoyed but his eyes were casted aside, trying to avoid Kakashi's gaze. The older man stood up, satisfied on the change on Sasuke's eyes. They were now regretful.

"I know you know this. But I just thought you needed to be reminded." He turned his back to Sasuke. "Don't get offended if they want to know more about your problems, they are just worried for your happiness."

The raven haired boy sighed resignedly. "Can you untie me now, sensei?" He said tiredly. Kakashi looked at him impassively. "I… will apologize tomorrow." The grey-haired jounin smiled, his eye twinkling upwards. Once he released his student he handed him his headband.

"You forgot this back there." Kakashi noted. The boy looked down at the shining metal. He thought of Naruto.

"Thanks." He muttered, gripping the headband in his hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow for training." He called to his student fondly. Sasuke was a good kid that had a horrid life experience. The copy-cat ninja knew that the Uchiha would someday open up completely to his friends.

Moments after Kakashi parted, the Uchiha sat down heavily on the branch thinking how hard it was to get along with his teammates. He sat there for fifteen more minutes, without realizing that more visitors were approaching.

* * *

She had walked with him towards the Hokage's building. They hadn't spoken much but they did talk about what might be wrong with Sasuke. Naruto concluded that it was obvious the Uchiha's rampage was caused by Itachi's visit and demonstration of his superiority.

Sakura had agreed with her blond comrade's words but she secretly believed it had something to do with Sasuke's jealousy of Naruto's progress also. Sasuke had confided in her his musings about how Naruto's chakra turned orange and how that helped him defeat the Shukaku.

"_Don't tell him I've been wondering about this." _He had said and Sakura had promised.

She intended to keep that promise. If she didn't and Sasuke find out, she feared that he might do something dangerous again.

Sakura firmly believed that not knowing what gave Naruto his power was driving Sasuke crazy… literally. Look at what he almost did! His attack was aimed directly at Naruto's heart, and if he hadn't protected her… well she might have just died back there.

Naruto had entered the Hokage's room by himself.

Sakura didn't enter the building; she told him they would see each other tomorrow and turned towards the park. The green-eyed girl found an empty bench and sat there, her mind plagued by Sasuke's demented eyes reflecting the beams of chakra his Chidori created.

It pained her deeply to see him in such state. The girl cursed Uchiha Itachi mentally, wishing he had never appeared.

She wished she could make something to make him feel better.

Sakura spent almost two hours sitting alone in the park before she got to her feet with the intention to find Sasuke.

* * *

Not even the excitement of having his brand new chuunin jacket on could drown the sadness he still felt after the episode with Sasuke. Naruto's feelings had evolved from anger to confusion and finally to a deep sorrow now infesting his gut.

Sakura was now gone, minding her own business, and that left a lonely Naruto with nothing to do since Tsunade had announced him that Jiraiya had gone for a couple of weeks to do some highly classified job. She didn't want to tell him what kind of job, so he was ushered out of the office.

Twenty minutes later he found himself entering his favorite ramen shop. Teuchi and Ayame received him warmly, congratulating him on his promotion and serving him a steaming bowl of ramen immediately.

"On the house." Teuchi said with a grin. "All you can eat tonight."

Naruto thanked him and smiled with some effort. His mood was really messed up. The blond had one elbow on the counter and with his other arm he was holding the chopsticks. Five minutes passed and he was still playing with the noodles.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Ayame called worriedly. "You haven't eaten any of it."

"I know..." The whiskered chuunin sighed. "I'm sorry… I just have no appetite today." Without any further explanation he left the tiny restaurant. Father and daughter were left with a worried frown and a puzzled look.

* * *

"So weak." The blue-haired man holding Sasuke by his throat said disdainfully. The young Uchiha glared at him, his Sharingan now deactivated. His mouth was full of blood and his body full of scrapes and bruises. The four intruders had jumped on him unexpectedly, but only one attacked him. A man with pale skin and an extra head attached to his neck. "Why would Orochimaru want him?"

Sasuke figured out they were Orochimaru's henchmen since the outfits the intruders were wearing were identical to the clothes Orochimaru had the night he bit him. But the Uchiha's muscles still tensed up at the mention of the sannin's name.

"Kimimaro would've been a better choice." A dark haired ninja said with his arms crossed. All six of them. He had a sound hitai-ite tied around his forehead.

The other intruders made noises of agreement.

"What do you want?" managed to say the Uchiha, breathing laboriously. His mind scanned for a strategy to get out of his grasp but it was very hard to come up with a good one.

"We came here to remind you of Lord Orochimaru's generous offer." A woman with pink hair said, coming down from her branch. She grabbed Sasuke but the collar of his shirt and tore the fabric, revealing the curse seal along with the seal Kakashi had placed on him.

"I hope you haven't forgotten." She said with a smirk. Suddenly Sasuke's seal started to shine and spread like fire on his skin; the dark markings reached half his body and face, his eyes summoned his blood limit.

"Oh." The two headed man smirked. The boy kicked him with his new found strength right under the chin, making the attacker let go of him. The woman jumped backwards but Sasuke's attention was on the man that had beaten him. He charged at breakneck speed, fist ready to break his jaw.

In a blink of an eye, Sasuke's back hit the tree behind him. The man had been too fast to block his attack. _'I don't get it… I even dismissed Kakashi's seal to use the power of the curse seal.' _He didn't think of the punishment his sensei might assign him for ignoring his warnings of never using the powers again. He looked up and gasped at the shinobi in front of him.

"You're not the only one Orochimaru gave benefits to." He said with a grin, a series of black blotches wiggling on his skin, much like Sasuke's. "Unlike you, we're able to control the power of the curse seal."

"If you accept Orochimaru's proposal, we can help you control it and even stop it from consuming your body." The only woman in the group said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Consuming my body?" Sasuke asked, wiping blood from his mouth. He couldn't believe he was actually intrigued by that proposal. "What do you mean?"

"Such a powerful seal has side effects. There's a procedure you have to be submitted to in order to acquire all the benefits the seal brings." The man with multiple arms said, also climbing down from his tree branch. _'My body paralysis after using the seal must be one of those side effects.' _

"I don't trust you." The dark haired boy spat, glaring at the four older ninjas.

"But you can trust the power of the curse seal." The blue-haired man said with an evil grin. "You've felt it. It is exhilarating, but still just a small dose of the true power it can get you. If you want to reach this kind of strength, your only choice is to come with us."

"Or you could stay in this shitty town and rot with your petty friends, growing weak each day that goes by. You can do great things if you choose to be on Lord Orochimaru's side."

"We'll be waiting for you until midnight, two miles from the north gate."

The four oto-nin disappeared in a blur into the night. Sasuke stood up quickly, his markings receding onto his back. He licked his lips subconsciously.

* * *

He met team ten's male members five minutes after exiting Ichiraku's. Chouji congratulated him on becoming a chuunin; Shikamaru just nodded along with his friend's words. The Nara was wearing his chuunin jacket also. They were going to get some groceries for Shikamaru's mom from the supermarket. Chouji asked him if he wanted to tag along.

"No thanks, I've got stuff to do." The blond replied vaguely, shoving his hands on his pockets.

"Oh, okay. I bet you're meeting with your team to celebrate, huh?" Chouji said with a smile. Naruto was about to respond but the plump boy continued. "We celebrated Shikamaru's new position as soon as we found out. We treated ourselves to some really good stakes right there at the-"

"We've been very busy so there hasn't been time for any of that." Naruto said. He would have like to be with his whole team and have a good time. It had been a month since they ate together.

"That's too bad. Maybe you would like to come to a BBQ in my house sometime. My dad makes one twice a month and his hamburgers are really good! Right, Shikamaru?"

"They are, actually." Commented the boy, scratching his neck in an uninterested manner.

Naruto agreed to go to Chouji's the next time there was a BBQ. He also agreed on taking Sakura and Sasuke with him when that happened. The idea didn't sound bad. But right now he just wanted to take a stroll round the village since he wasn't in the mood for anything else.

A month and a half had passed since the Sound's attack on the village and things were starting to look normal again. The shelters were almost empty and would soon be, and the buildings that had been damaged were back to their previous shape. All the banks were working as normal. Konoha's north supermarket had repaired their roof and was now halfway painted.

Naruto was surprised to see that a few villagers greeted him warmly as he walked by. Words like "Good evening" or "How are you doing, Naruto" reached the blond's ears a few times. He replied with an unsure wave of his hand and a frail smile. He wasn't accustomed to be treated like this and at first he thought it was a joke. Of course, the majority of the citizens glared at him as usual.

The whiskered boy had been walking for half an hour. The full-moon was looming from behind the dark clouds. Naruto guessed it must be somewhere near eight o'clock, maybe even more. He wished he had a watch. He shrugged his shoulders unconsciously.

He wondered how Sasuke had behaved after Kakashi's talk with him. Was he feeling guilty he almost fucked up their team relationship? Maybe he didn't care at all after all and just turned his back on Kakashi, leaving to his fancy apartment. Naruto refused to believe the latter, since he was sure Sasuke had changed for good these past months. _'His hatred is just too much for him to let it go so easily.' _Naruto sighed heavily, thinking back on what Sasuke had said the first day with team seven, when Kakashi had asked each of them to say something about themselves.

"_I don't have a dream but an ambition: to kill a certain man." _

Ever since his family was murdered he had been dreaming with killing his brother. Sasuke was thirteen years old and had already harbored five years of deep hatred towards Itachi. But why did his revenge had anything to do with trying to kill him?

'_He's just acting like a kid. Dammit Sasuke.' _

"Please state your business." Commanded a heavy voice in front of him. Naruto halted brusquely on his steps; if the man hadn't spoken he might have walked into him.

"Huh?" the blond managed to say confusedly. Without him knowing, he had reached the Hyuuga manor.

"Your business." Repeated the Hyuuga guard harshly, no humor on his voice. He was brandishing the crossed shaped seal on his forehead.

"I don't- I mean… I didn't-"

"If you don't have any business in here, I suggest that you turn around and get going boy." The man, unlike the male Hyuugas he'd seen on the village, had short, black hair. His eyes were severe but they didn't hold hatred.

"I'm sorry, I'll lea-"

"Let him in, Hikotaro-san." A younger voice said from behind them. Naruto stopped in his words and angled his body so he could see the person coming. His fists tightened.

"Neji-san. Do you know this boy?" The guard asked, his eyebrows reaching upwards.

"Yes." Neji said simply, a passive expression on his face.

"Very well." That seemed to suffice the guard. Hikotaro turned around and walked towards the farthest part of the gate.

Naruto's nostrils widened.

"I don't need you t-"

"If you would follow me, please, Naruto." Neji said, ignoring the blond's rave. He looked discretely at the guard to see if he was at a safe distance. "I'll show you to where Hinata-sama is."

"You what?" Naruto said stupidly. Neji had already started walking towards the complex, ignoring Naruto's questioning.

"Hey! Come back here!" The whiskered boy yelled as he ran to catch up with the Hyuuga.

"If you don't want to get kicked out of the house, you better stop yelling. The elders don't like noisy people." Neji reprimanded once Naruto caught up with him. They had already entered the building but Neji had turned left, avoiding the wooden floor that lead into the finely decorated flat and instead walking on the stone path that crossed the rich garden.

"You call this a house?" The blond asked incredulous, ignoring the patronizing tone on Neji's voice. "It's more like a palace."

"It needs to be big for all the members of the Hyuuga clan." Replied the older boy; stepping into a small bridge that crossed a tiny river. Naruto looked curiously at the colored fish dancing in the water. The garden surrounded the whole mansion, exhibiting colorful specimens of plants and small trees.

Naruto suddenly remembered who he was talking to and his eyes sharpened.

"Why are you acting like this towards me?" He demanded, pointing a finger towards his companion. They had taken a sharp turn to the right.

"You're a guest. And I suppose you came here to see Hinata." Neji turned his head at Naruto, but he still walked calmly into the path. "Did you not?"

"I…" The blond flushed at the thought of telling him he didn't know why he ended up in this place.

Neji stopped in front of an opening on the stone-walls.

"Hinata-sama is training down that road." The long haired boy motioned to the opening. Naruto saw that the path lead to a forest.

"You have your own forest?" He asked.

"I wouldn't call it a forest, although it does resemble one. It is a small piece of land reserved exclusively for the Hyuugas. Trespassing is prohibited for any person who has no permission. If you would excuse me, I shall go back with my teammates." He said politely, walking away from the blond. Naruto watched him go, and wondered if he could have changed this much in such a small period of time.

"You still owe me a fight." The chuunin called loudly, his body facing Neji's direction. He was still suspicious about the older shinobi but if Hinata gave him another chance, he could probably do the same.

Neji ceased to walk and turned his head to the blond. A smile crept to his lips.

"I agree. I'd like to test the strength of a chuunin. Just name a time and a place." Naruto liked the Hyuuga's reaction.

"Tomorrow at training ground number seven. Four o'clock if that's okay with you." The blond said with a smile of his own.

"It is. Try not to be late." There was a tinge of arrogance in his voice.

Naruto's smile became a small grin as the Hyuuga retreated.

* * *

"Who was it, Neji?" Tenten asked, sitting on the leather couch. She was eyeing the inside of her wallet, making mental calculations of the amount of money she could spend tonight.

"Naruto." Replied the Hyuuga, claiming his previous spot on the chair.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" inquired the girl, forgetting her wallet and placing her full attention on the long-haired boy. "Is everything okay?"

"It is." The Hyuuga grabbed his soda from the table. "We're sparring tomorrow at four."

"You are?" exclaimed Lee, eyebrows shooting upwards. Neji cringed at his loudness.

"C'mon Lee. Hiashi-sama is just two rooms away. Keep it down."

"Sorry, Neji." Lee grinned. "Can I come to watch?"

"Don't you have an appointment with Lady Tsunade at that time?" team Gai's female member asked, pocketing her wallet.

"Oh, that's right." The green clad genin said, crestfallen.

"Some other time." Neji said, rising. "We need to go now. The movie will start in half an hour."

Tenten downed the last of her drink and stood up. Lee did the same, grabbing a single wooden cane lying besides the couch. He could already walk by himself although a tad slowly. The cane helped him go faster.

"Maybe we could do some karaoke after the movie, you know?" Lee commented.

His two teammates shook their heads violently.

* * *

Sasuke discarded the black shirt he was wearing. It was heavy with sweat and dirt. The moonlight reflected on his pale chest, where thin, fading scars rested. He pulled his usual blue shirt with the Uchiha logo printed on the back. He also donned clean, white shorts. He was now ready to go.

His dark-blue backpack lay on the king-sized bed. The young boy had already loaded it with a pair of shirts and shorts, along with supplies and extra ninja gear. He had emptied his reserve of knifes and shuriken. Curiously, the first thing he packed was his Konoha headband. He didn't put much thought into it.

Shouldering the bag, Sasuke took a look around his not so humble apartment, dark eyes surveying anything important he might have forgotten. There was a nice kitchen right next to the entrance door and a fine-looking mahogany dinner table with six chairs surrounding it. Next was the living room, which was furnished with leather couches and a tiny table in the middle; the fireplace was well hidden in an opening inside the wall.

Sasuke had never had anyone come over to his apartment. He was only home for sleeping and eating. He thought a couple of years after he bought the apartment that he should've chosen a smaller one; but that didn't matter anymore.

He was leaving tonight.

It had been a long time since he last used the curse seal, and when he activated it against the four thugs of Orochimaru he was enveloped on the vitalizing power of the seal. Not even having the Chidori in the palm of his hand made him feel as secure and imposing as that fountain of power. He was incomplete, he could feel it. But he felt the potential of the seal in his navel.

They were right. If he stayed in Konoha he would never reach his brother… or surpass Naruto. Let the blond stay with his secret source of power. Sasuke would have his own. If there was anything that would help him rip Itachi's heart out of his chest, was Orochimaru's power. And he decided that he was willing to give up everything he had forged in Konoha to tap into that smashing power.

He turned to the door but something on his room caught his attention. A square patch of moonlight was entering through his window and shining on the surface of a photograph frame. He was tempted to approach it and give it one last look, but decided against it. It was time to forget all about team seven.

He left his keys on the table and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him.

* * *

Unlike the garden within the complex walls, the forest didn't show any sign of human manipulation on its soil. It seemed that the Hyuuga's preferred to let the flora carry on naturally, so the space would retain a somewhat wild appearance. Evergreens of different sizes were scattered along the ground; Dry leaves crackled under Naruto's sandals, and he had to watch out for the protruding roots that littered the now invisible path. The trees were so tall that Naruto could only make out a few stars in the sky. If he didn't know that the terrain was only a few thousand square meters long, the blond would have thought he was really traveling the wilderness.

A heavily scarred tree trunk caught his attention. There were deep slashes adorning the bark's surface, and a good amount of bark and branches lying on the forest floor. They had been cut clean from the mother tree. Naruto deduced it was Hinata's technique's doing, the one she used on Neji's chest on the prelims. But as he looked around he didn't find trace of said girl. He tried to sense her chakra, but it seemed she wasn't using it at all, because he failed to locate her. Naruto frowned. Not even a trace of her presence. He started to worry, but then reminded himself that she was on her own grounds, and the guards would have known if something dangerous had happened.

The blond straightened up and scratched his cheek, looking around. He then sighed.

"What I am doing here anyway?" he asked to no one, as he looked at the patches of sky through the trees. He was about to just turn back and head home, when he identified the sound of water running. _'They even have a river.' _Naruto thought, heading towards the sound. He wondered just how much money did the Hyuuga possessed. He encountered fewer and fewer trees as he headed towards the river, until he finally reached the deserted grounds that followed the water on its course. It was just plain grass and a few medium sized rocks flanking the river bank.

Then he saw her, sitting not too far from the river with her legs in front of her and her upper body thrown over her legs. She was stretching. _'No wonder I couldn't sense her chakra.' _The blond thought, smiling at the girl. She had been training, as Neji had said, and thus her chakra was depleted. What really surprised the blond was her ability to conceal her presence to the point that she was one with the forest. Naruto could only grasp the beginning of that by staying still and meditating for like two hours, but Hinata was doing it and maintaining it while she moved around. _'I guess some people connect more with nature than others.' _The Kyuubi container admitted, admiring her skill.

Hinata's head perked up and turned to look in his direction as she spotted his presence. The girl froze; her mouth fell in a circular shape as she stared dumbstruck at him. Sensing she wasn't going to speak any time soon, Naruto started.

"Hey." He said, raising his hand shyly as he approached. He almost fell down when he stepped on a slippery rock. "Er… How… How are you, Hinata?"

Hinata's mind stopped working as the blond came out of the shadows. Her lips were moving up and down but not sound came from them. It took the Hyuuga heiress thirty seconds to articulate a response.

"N-N-Naruto-kun what are y-you doing here?" she started looking from the forest to Naruto, finding it hard to accept that that particular person was standing on her training spot, inside her house. Her face was already flushed due to the exercise she had been doing previously.

"That's a good question." The blond mumbled. He had finally reached her and was now standing in front of her. Before Naruto could say anything else, Hinata realized that she had just a sleeveless blue top and her black pants on. She glanced quickly at her right, where her jacket laid discarded. Her ears started to get uncomfortably warm.

"Are you OK?" The blond asked, kneeling down to get a closer look. The Hyuuga seemed very flustered.

"I-I… yes." She responded quickly, trying to calm her nerves. "J-Just tired from training."

"Damn, sorry I came without notice. I just…" He laughed awkwardly, as his hand rose to the back of his head.

"D-Don't worry. I was just f-finishing up anyway but I do have to ask w-what are you doing here…" Her eyes suddenly widened in alarm. "H-How did you even got here? The g-guards, they are very-"

"Neji let me in." The blond replied rapidly. Hinata seemed about to freak out. She immediately stopped in her words and looked at Naruto straight in the face.

"Neji?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either." The blond said, flopping down absentmindedly on the moist grass. "I don't get him… but we're going to have a match tomorrow by the way, it might be fun…"

"You're going to f-fight?" Hinata exclaimed. The blond hadn't seen her so agitated over so many things in such a short period of time. "Naruto-kun, y-you're not thinking of…"

"It's just a spar, Hinata." The whiskered boy raised both his hands in order to calm her nerves. "I'm not gonna hurt him… he might get a few bruises but nothing serious, trust me." _'Unless he goes psycho again… If that happens I'll get him for sure.' _

Hinata sighed, her stress finally letting go. The behavior between Naruto and Neji was one of the subjects that preoccupied her more than anything. It seemed they were finally settling down and that pleased her to no end.

"I'm sorry f-fort the outburst, Naruto-kun. It's j-just… I wasn't expecting n-none of these." She said embarrassedly as she blushed, her left hand placing itself on her right shoulder while she looked at the stream. Naruto grinned at her. Her hand's contact on her arm reminded herself of her lack of more clothes, but it also brought something else to mind.

"T-That's new!" she said happily, pointing at Naruto's chuunin vest. The blond smiled as he looked down at it. The padded shoulders and neck of the jacket kept him warm from the night's wind. It was a dark green and had two large pockets on the front, where you could put either a kunai in each compartment or a small scroll. Inside the vest were four more pockets, two large enough to place his current weights and the other two really tiny. They were normally used to carry important notes or small items you really wanted to hide.

"I-It looks really g-good on you." The girl added shyly, her voice low. The vest somehow made Naruto look older. The blond chuckled.

"You flatter me, Hin. It's just a jacket." Naruto said but he did blush the tiniest bit. "I saw Shikamaru earlier and he was also wearing it. Soon the rest of the rookie 9 will be wearing it too."

"H-Have you and your team celebrated yet?" the girl inquired, gathering her legs on her arms and placing her chin on top of her knees.

"Nah. Too busy, just like I told Chouji. But he did invite us to his house to celebrate…"

The girl nodded. "Chouji-kun has also i-invited our team, but we have b-been unable to assist since Shino left for a m-mission with his dad."

"When d-did they give it to y-you?"

"Just today, a few hours ago. I left the hospital and went to get it at once." Hinata didn't think it was prudent to let Naruto leave the hospital yet, but since Tsunade-sama allowed she didn't say anything. _'He healed so fast…' _

"I-Is something wrong?" She asked as soon as she turned her eyes to the boy. His mood had fallen down considerably; the smile he had been wearing was now completely gone and just a slight frown remained. His eyes left her face and were looking at the ground.

"What? No…" The blond raised his eyes and tried to smile again, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Something is troubling you." The girl stated without stuttering.

"What makes you think-"

"I-I can feel it in you." She responded, forcing her eyes to stay on his. Naruto lowered his blue orbs. That meant she was right. And discovering that made her think of something else. "T-That is why you're here."

Naruto stared at her. That girl could read him like a book.

"I… I don't know why I came here." He confessed uncomfortably, raising his head to look at the moon.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" The Hyuuga asked, daring to get closer to the boy. She hated seeing him all gloomy. Naruto laughed humorlessly and then looked at his shoes.

"It's Sasuke." He said finally. "He attacked me earlier today."

"He… He d-did what?" Hinata gasped, her eyebrows rising in surprise. Naruto finally raised his eyes to meet hers. The whiskered jinchuriki narrated the event and the girl listened attentively, shocked by each word the blond said.

"Sakura seemed to have calmed down after that but I know she's crushed inside by what that teme did. Kakashi-sensei's also worried, he talked to him but I don't know how it ended up." Naruto's fingers were playing with the strands of grass bellow his feet, his eyes were glazed as he spoke his bitter thoughts to Hinata.

The girl didn't know much about the Uchiha, except that his clan was murdered by his own brother so she didn't have much to say about Naruto's partner, but she wanted to bring the blond some kind of comfort.

"He encountered h-his brother some time ago…" The girl started, unsure if that was going to help. "Sasuke-kun must be s-still shocked by seeing him… He's just consternated a-about that, I'm sure he w-wouldn't tried to hurt you otherwise, h-he's your friend after all."

Naruto sighed and extended his legs in front of him.

"That's what I thought but… you didn't see him, Hinata. His eyes were crazed and I could feel his killing intent directed at me… He…" Naruto's fists were clenched to the point that his knuckles were whitening. Hinata could feel the dread forming inside of him. "He wanted to _kill _me. I haven't wrong him that bad to make him wanna attack me, much less kill me but… he went in towards my heart."

"I know he's always had his issues…" _'But so have I…'_

Naruto trailed off as he shook his head. Now he knew why he had come to Hinata. The boy needed to talk his heart out to someone and fate decided it had to be that girl. Naruto placed his palm on his forehead and pressed. His heart constricted painfully at the thought of losing Sasuke as a friend, someone whom he could relate very well to.

"I mean… friends don't do that." The newly appointed chuunin wasn't aware that he spoke those words.

The blond hadn't noticed that Hinata rose to her knees besides him and was now sliding her arms around him. One naked arm had positioned itself over his right shoulder and the other one under his left arm.

"H-Hinata what…" His mind stopped forming words as he started to focus on the warmth she provided. He couldn't see her face since her head was right next to his. Even though she had been training, her hair and body smelled as good as always.

"N-Naruto-kun, please s-stop." Her face was glowing red but Naruto couldn't see that. Her heart was thundering on her chest so fast that she was afraid Naruto might notice.

The dark-haired girl hadn't seen Naruto cry but she had a feeling that if he continued to think about the bad stuff happening, she might witness it tonight… and she couldn't allow that.

She didn't know what had forced her to hug him but her heart ached just looking at him drown in his sorrow. Hyuuga Hinata had her mind set to stop the blond's suffering; there was also another thought throbbing on her mind: _'__**Don't you dare faint right now. Naruto-kun needs you.' **_

"I-I'm sure that Sasuke-kun w-will g-go back to his usual s-self. You are f-friends, and friends are supposed to f-fight at some point, one w-way or another. The i-important thing is that you will reconcile sooner or l-later and everything will e-end up alright." She could feel his chest rising up and down. _'We are so close!' _ The Hyuuga started to worry when he didn't answer but before she could lean back and look at him he spoke,

"You think so?" Naruto's voice was low and the girl felt his rib cage and throat reverberate with it. She was afraid that all those emotions swimming on her mind would make her start shaking. The indigo-haired beauty only nodded her head slowly. The blond then proceeded to lock his arms on her frame. Hinata nearly jumped in excitement at his reciprocation. _'We are hugging… Kami, we are really hugging!' _

"Thank you, Hin." He whispered the last part, voice filled with sentiment, as he tightened his grip the girl's back. His eyes closed and a smile crossed his face and stayed there obediently. Naruto wouldn't have thought that he could smile again tonight but Hinata made that happen. She had a power to cheer up anybody near her and made them feel precious and wanted. The blond could feel the chill skin of Hinata's shoulders on his forearms.  
He hadn't felt this happy before and furthermore, he had never hugged anyone like that. Uzumaki Naruto realized he loved the feeling and immersed himself even more in the sensation by burying his face on Hinata's shoulder.

When he spoke his breath reached the girl's neck, and an instant chill ran down the Hyuuga's spine. Her brain was trying to capture every second of the moment and copy the exact emotions and feelings she was having right now, so she could replay it later on her mind and cherish it forever. She also tightened her arms around him. The elation in her heart and the excitement in her veins overwhelmed her to the point that her eyes started to water.  
She was closer to him now. He had shifted his face and she could feel his mouth on her lower neck; Goosebumps shot throughout her body. He wasn't kissing her or anything like that, but his lips were present on her skin and that caused her to emit a quick, low moan. _'I love you, Naruto-kun.' _She called in her mind, biting her lower lip. And she might be able to admit her feelings flat out to him that night, that towering sensation building up in her navel would give her the strength.

It felt like hours had passed and they were still hanging by one another. The overwhelming feeling was too strong. Hinata opened her mouth,

"Naruto-kun, I-I l-"

"That's most ungraceful for an heiress to do."

Both twelve-year-olds' eyes jerked open and sprung to their feet, letting go of each other like they were on fire. Hinata was blushing furiously, more than Naruto had ever seen before. The boy's cheeks were colored but not as much as his ears, which were glowing in the dark. He didn't know why he reacted that way since they weren't doing anything illegal… although he did felt vulnerable at being caught on such a tender situation.

There was a kid standing a few feet behind them. She was wearing a cherry sundress that fell just below her knees, had pupil-less eyes and her long hair fell freely over her shoulders, a strand of hair hanged over her eyes. She looked like a miniature version Hinata to Naruto.

Hinata had a hand on her chest, trying to slow down her beating heart. She looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Naruto recovered first.

"Damn it, girl. You scared the hell out of me." He said, recovering his breath. They had been too busy dwelling on the moment that they hadn't sense her coming. The girl glared at him.

"You're not supposed to talk like that to a Hyuuga." The small Hyuuga said disdainfully. "And you're also not allowed to touch her the way you were doing just now. She is the heiress of the clan."

"I am aware of that… and I wasn't touching her in a bad way…" Naruto retorted, feeling a little embarrassed to get reprimanded by a girl at least four years his junior. "We were just…"

"Hugging, I saw you." The kid stated, crossing her arms. "You are not worthy of approaching her in that way."

"Hey! It's not like a bad thing, and who are you to say if I'm worthy or not, you're just a kid!" Naruto shouted, a vein appearing on his forehead.

"I am a member of the main branch of this clan, the most powerful clan in this village." The dark haired girl said with arrogance.

Hinata seemed to finally recover from her shock and was now aware of the conversation those two were having.

"Hanabi-nee-san c-calm down." Hinata spoke with a weak smile. "We weren't doing a-anything wrong. N-Naruto-kun is just a friend." Both shinobi's eyes widened slightly. Hanabi's more than Naruto's. _'He is _the _Naruto?' _Hanabi questioned in her mind, not believing that boy that held Hinata's attention was that disrespectful ass in front of her. _'…At least he's a chuunin.' _

"She's your little sister?" The blond inquired quite surprised as he pointed at the girl. Hinata's younger sister didn't act at all like her.

"H-Hai." Hinata said with a nervous smile. She had noticed how Hanabi stared at Naruto once she found out who he was and sent her sister a meaningful glance. "Uhm… Hanabi-nee-san this is U-Uzumaki Naruto-kun. N-Naruto-kun, she's my precious sister."

Hanabi's cheeks colored a bit at Hinata's words, but she then looked at the blond. If he was his sister's crush, she shouldn't treat him wrongly. She sighed.

"Nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san." She said through gritted teeth while bowing. "I apologize for my harsh words."

Naruto was taken aback. That girl's attitude changed completely as soon as she knew his name. _'What the hell?' _

"Erm… Hi. Don't worry about that… I'm sorry for speaking to you in that way, also." The blond said in his softest tone, trying to show that he meant his words. Hanabi eyed him suspiciously. _'Is he just saying that to please my sister?' _

Hinata didn't know what to make of the meeting of the two. They didn't look too comfortable at each other's presence.

"Hm, you look just like your big sis, Hanabi." The blond said, returning to his cheerful self. He grinned at her. "But you sure act a lot different." He laughed. Hinata smiled shyly with him.

Hanabi raised her eyebrows.

"I don't see how that is relevant." She deadpanned.

"Wow. You may look like Hinata but you sure are a lot like Neji, aren't cha?" Naruto said a little surprised. Hinata hid a smile at Hanabi's blush. The little girl's cheeks flushed instantly, making her look younger.

"I-I cannot be compared with Neji-niisama!" She exclaimed defensively, her clenched little fists beside her. "He's one of a kind!"

Hinata hid a giggle behind her hand while Hanabi sent her death glares. Naruto could only stare at the sudden change of personality of the younger Hyuuga. One moment she was all Neji-like and the next she was making a perfect impression of Hinata's blushing and stuttering… although instead of hiding behind her hands or fidgeting with her fingers she glared offensively at whoever was in front of her. _'Ain't this family nice.' _He smiled to himself. Naruto wondered how would his interaction with a hypothetical brother or sister be.

"Anyways!" Hanabi punctuated, brushing a strand of her from her face hastily. "Father said you had been training long enough and should get back to the house. Remember you just recovered from a cold."

"He also says you ought to offer your visitor at least a beverage, since he hasn't been given anything on the forty minutes he has been here… apart from the hug." The last part was said very quick and low, but Naruto still caught her words and scratched his neck, embarrassed.

Hinata froze at Hanabi's words, her face paled rapidly. Her sister had a winning smirk on her face and sent her a look that clearly stated _"Busted!"_

"Wow, your dad really pays close attention to you, huh?" Naruto tried to chuckle but he felt nervous at the thought of the Hyuuga leader watching him hug his daughter with veins popping around his eyes. _'I bet he's just waiting for me to step back into the house so he can rip my head off.'_ Naruto lifted his hand subconsciously to his neck.

"Are you feeling alright?" The chuunin asked, frowning at the lack of color on the Hinata's face. She seemed unable to breath. "Hinata?"

"I-I'm fine." She replied at last. _'He's going to want to talk to me!' _"L-Let's go." _'How am I going to explain that …' _She blushed again.

"How is it possible that you got to be a chuunin instead of Neji-niisan?" The heiress heard her relative asking Naruto. She was eyeing him suspiciously.

"Obviously, I'm a better shinobi than he is." Replied Naruto cockily, puffing out his chest in pride.

"You are not!" the long-haired Hyuuga yelled indignantly.

"Sure am!" Nodded the whiskered boy fervently. "I'm also stronger, quicker, smarter AND! … way more handsome than he is!"

Hinata was able to giggle at Naruto's words through her worried thoughts. Hanabi seized him with a stare that clearly said: _"You've got to be kidding me."_

"You're just delirious." The seven-year-old girl stated in an annoyed tone.

A vein started popping on Naruto's forehead. She spoke just like her cousin.

"Tch. Say that to the new jacket, girl." He pointed superiorly at the green vest. Hanabi's lavender eyes narrowed dangerously. _'He's speaking to me in that tone again!' _

"You better start addressing me correctly, baka, or I'm going to –"

"That's no way to talk to _my_ guest, Hanabi-neechan." Naruto's eyebrows shot up at Hinata's serious voice. She was looking at her younger sister pointedly and her eyes had narrowed the slightest bit. _'Wow. Hinata's got potential to make a killing glare.' _He didn't know if that pleased him or not; he was sure he would like a more assertive Hinata but that might open a possibility for a scary Hinata. He shuddered.

Hanabi's mouth was still holding the threat but she immediately closed it. It was very rare to hear Hinata speak like that and when she did, then you better be careful.

"Gomenasai." The girl spoke humbly, lowering her eyes at her sister's stare. "I bid you good night, Uzumaki-san."

Without waiting for a response she spun around and walked quickly down the dark hall, turning on the corner and disappearing.

Hinata sighed. _'She's not going to let that slip.' _

"I'm s-sorry for my sister's behavior." She turned the pondering blond. "Hanabi can be hot-headed some t-times and forget her m-manners."

"Not unlike me." The blond joked, feeling kind of guilty about Hanabi's scolding. "But I feel is kinda my fault… I mean, I was rude to her earlier."

"A Hyuuga m-must never lose his or her temper." Hinata replied automatically. "That's one of the r-reasons she isn't being considered for b-being future clan leader."

"Hmmm… I think it isn't healthy to remain uptight all the time; that messes up with your head."

Hinata smiled at his reasoning.

"W-would you like something to drink?" Hinata asked, walking over to the big kitchen. It was bigger than Naruto's room.

"You don't have to bother with that, Hin." The blond said, grinning at her, although he could really use something to drink; the past ten minutes had drained him.

"It's n-no trouble at all." She said, looking at him with a pretty smile. "We have anything you might w-want."

"Well… iced tea would be great, if you have it." The blond grinned sheepishly at her. She poured him a big glass of brown tea and another one for her. They both drank eagerly.

"So, what's Hanabi's deal with Neji? She was fussing all over him." His glass was halfway down. Hinata smiled at the question.

"She's always a-admired him for his strength." The girl put her glass down on the counter. "So she has taken a-after him. If someone talks d-down on him she'll get really mad, as you could see j-just n-"

"What is it?" Naruto asked, sensing the discomfort that had settled on Hinata.

"My…" She found it hard to speak since her throat had gone dry. "M-My father is coming."

It was time for Naruto to pale. His stomach suddenly felt really cold.

"Your dad?" He asked, weakly. _'Shit! I knew I shouldn't have come here.' _ He had never felt this nervous before. His eyes started darting everywhere, trying to find his presence or catch him appearing behind a corner and launching himself at him. "Maybe I should just get going, huh?"

Hinata didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed somewhere behind the Kyuubi container.

Naruto turned around slowly, knowing full well that Hyuuga Hiashi was going to be standing right behind him. He gulped when his cerulean eyes met his light, cold ones.

"Otou-san." The girl greeted in a meek voice.

'_He's so tall!' _the blond admired in his mind.

The leader of the Hyuuga clan, the father of Hinata and Hanabi, a council man of Konoha.

Hyuuga Hiashi towered over the small chuunin, his orbs looking down at him in a stern gaze. He had a square face and severe eyes.

"Hiashi-san." Naruto found himself speaking. His voice almost cracked. The authority the man emanated was immense and his eyes could not leave his. The man was measuring him up.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Hiashi spoke coldly. He walked around the table to reach his daughter, who was rooted on the kitchen. He was wearing the formal Hyuuga clothes and his hands were folded behind his back.

Hinata was trying not to vomit. Her mind repeated the same words over and over: _'Please don't kill him, please don't kill him, please don't kill him, please don't-'_

"I see you are a chuunin now." He stated, his eyes never leaving the blond's face.

"I am." Naruto responded at once. He was trying to control his nerves.

Hiashi nodded slightly.

"Excuse might daughter for any lack of courtesy she might have shown you." It was an order. Naruto didn't know what to say to that.

"I know it's overdue but I still haven't extended my appreciation for your aid to my daughter the night of the attack." Naruto swore that Hiashi's eyes had softened a tad, but maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. "I thank you for that."

The blond's ears flooded with blood from embarrassment. He had a feeling that not many kids his age heard that words from the Hyuuga.

"Sir, that was…" he avoid the urge to scratch his neck. He gathered courage to say the next words, hoping they wouldn't displease the older shinobi. "I would do it again without a second thought."

Hinata's eyes turned to him, amazed by the confidence in his voice. Naruto looked at her and she blushed. Hiashi watched the interaction of the children with hard looking eyes.

"It is ten minutes past nine." Hiashi snapped, startling the young ninjas. He was looking at the fancy clock hanging on the wall. "In this household we don't receive visitors past eight p.m."

"Understood." The blond said curtly and incredibly, he bowed. "Good night, Hinata, Hiashi-san."

Hiashi nodded again and glanced at his daughter. She felt his eyes on top of her and bowed immediately.

"G-Good night, Naruto-kun.".

Naruto exited the kitchen and went to the garden where he took the stone path back to the main entrance. He didn't dare run.

Hinata and Hiashi watched him go. The girl let her breath out, knowing that Naruto was out of danger… for now.

"I was under the impression that that boy was unable of displaying any kind of courtesy to anyone." Hiashi noted, referring to the way Naruto addressed him.

"Well… he…" Hinata's brain was malfunctioning.

"I must say I'm surprised to see you have befriended him." Hiashi continued. Hinata breathed deeply and looked at the long-haired man in the eye.

"He's a good person, father." She tried not to stutter and succeeded, although her voice wasn't completely firm.

Hyuuga Hiashi knitted his eyebrows together. According to Neji, that boy was the reason Hinata had changed so much. _'She stutters around the boy, though.' _

"He lives alone, doesn't he?" He recalled the night the village was attacked. Hinata had been visiting the boy wearing very revealing clothing in his opinion. _'But he saved her.'_

"Hai... He's an orphan."

"I see. That's very unfortunate." He turned his back on the girl and started walking towards the door. "Your sister seemed to be upset about something, perhaps you should talk to her."

That was her father's way of closing the subject, she was expecting to being further questioned about her crush. _'It's almost as if he approves on my friendship with him…' _she thought, hope building up in her heart. But it seemed to good to be true.

"Tou-san?"

"Good night." Was his simple answer.

That night Hinata went to bed with a blissful smile and a mind continuously replaying the endearing moment of her and Naruto. Her heart was busting with joy.

* * *

The night was windy and her legs were cold. The full moon was about to reach its highest peak on the starry sky. She was sitting patiently on a concrete bench on the northern extreme of the city. The main gate could be seen from there.

There was an awful certainty in her heart that he was going to appear at any moment, but she wished it was just her being paranoid.

Her mother should be really worried by now. It was going to be midnight soon and she promised to arrive early tonight.

She looked to her right, something had caught her attention. Fireflies had started to fly around and the stone path was momentarily lightened green.

'_It's a beautiful night.' _Sakura thought sorrowful. She had been watching the intermittent lights going in circles, until the green glow hit the face of the Uchiha boy and his black eyes; they stared at her from the darkness.

"Sasuke-kun." Her heart tightened painfully, she stood up. This wasn't happening.

His face was blank but harsh. He took a step forward out of the dark shadows.

"What are you doing here?" he deadpanned.

"You need to take this path to exit the city." She explained in a sad voice. Her eyes focused on the bag he was carrying.

"How did you figure?" he was mildly impressed on her deduction skills. He must admit she was really smart.

Sakura noted that he was completely calm now, not crazy like he had been on the hospital roof. His eyes were decided and that worried her heart.

"I know you Sasuke-kun. You might think I'm a nuisance but I really do know you." She clenched her fists. "Please don't do this."

"You don't know shit about me." He snarled, his eyes growing darker. "You only think of me of a cool guy that did well on the academy, just like the other girls."

"I'm nothing like those girls anymore… I changed." She said hotly. "And I can assure you I get you! I know why you're acting like this and why you're leaving! Please don't do this, Sasuke-kun!"

"This is my new path, and I've made my mind about it." He passed her without sparing a glance at the girl.

"Don't go to Him! There's nothing good that can come from this… you… you have a home here! You have friends and a team and… and me!" hot tears were streaking down her cheeks.

"I don't need you or Kakashi or Naruto anymore." He said with a cruel chuckle. "There's nothing for me here anymore."

"If you stay I promise you won't regret it, Sasuke-kun! I'll make you happy in any way I can, please!" Her hand has clenching her chest. "I love Sasuke-kun! At least, take me with you! Don't leave me."

Sasuke sighed.

"You say you've changed but you're still annoying. Go home Sakura." He put his hands in his pockets and continued to walk away from her.

"Sasuke-kun…" She wept. _'I'm losing him… I can't, I just can't!' _he watched his figure moving farther from her, her vision was distorted by her tears. "I…I will t-tell you Naruto's secret."

Sasuke's feet stopped moving. His body became very stiff. Sakura felt a tiny bit of hope growing within her.

"Will you stay if I do that?" she took a hesitant step forward, a small smile appearing in her face.

"The source of his power?" Sasuke asked as he walked towards her in a fast pace. He ignored her question. "You mean that secret?"

Sakura nodded fervently. "But… will you?"

"Tell me, Sakura." He prodded, standing right in front of her and grabbing her by the shoulders.

"S-Sasu-"

"Tell me!" His eyes were desperate. Sakura gulped. _'I'm sorry Naruto, but it's for his sake.' _

"He's the container for the nine tailed fox, Naruto grabs onto his chakra and uses it for fighting, he…"

Sasuke had stopped listening; his eyes were glazed as his mind looked back on the encounter with Orochimaru and Gaara. _'That was the red chakra around him.' _That bastard! That's how he always gets so strong! The little hypocrite! Suddenly, his whole escapade seemed justified. Why should Naruto be the only one with the hidden power? _'You can have your fox and I will have Orochimaru.' _

Sakura looked at him with concern. It was the first time she saw him grinning like that. He looked almost deranged. _'Maybe this was a bad idea.' _

"Sasuke-kun?" she called timidly, her tears had started to subside. At the sound of her voice, the Uchiha regained his calm. He looked at her green eyes.

"Thank you, Sakura." He said. "You've given me one more reason to get the hell out of this village."

Sakura's heart dropped in despair at those words. Before she could do or say anything more, the soon to be missing-nin lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers. The girl widened her eyes, they shone as newly formed tears filled the orbs.

It didn't last more than five seconds, and Sakura was shocked out of her mind. Her lips retained some warm after the kiss but she didn't feel well at all.

"Good bye." Sasuke's eyes were as cold as ever. She tried calling out his name one more time but the dark-haired boy teleported behind her and dropped the edge of his right hand on her neck.

Blackness engulfed the girl's vision.

* * *

"Where the fuck is he?" the pink-haired sound-nin's yell resounded in the whole forest. The two headed shinobi grimaced at her volume.

"Keep it down, Tayuya! There might be patrols around here." Sakon hushed, annoyed at his partner.

"I don't give a fuck!" she continued her tirade. "Why the hell didn't we just kidnap him?"

"Because Orochimaru-sama told us to invite him first." Jirobo explained patiently. He had known Tayuya for three years now and was used to her short temper. "He seemed pretty sure he was going to come willingly."

"Well he was wrong!" the woman exclaimed, throwing her arms in front of her in annoyance.

"It's only fifteen minutes past midnight, he might still be coming." Kidomaru reasoned from his spot on the ground. He was kneeling in front of an ant colony and pushing a stick inside the hole in the soil. "Getting out of Konoha is much trickier than before."

"Argh!" The pink haired woman sighed. "Why can't he just use Kimimaro instead? He's much stronger."

"Because he wants the Sharingan." Replied the man with three pair of arms.

"Why don't we just scoop his eyes out? It'd be easier that way." Continued the woman.

"Stop questioning Orochimaru-sama. He knows what he's doing." Scolded Jirobo.

"Tch." The woman crossed her arms nonchalantly. They were silent for a couple of minutes before Sakon spoke again.

"If he isn't here by one o'clock, we'll go for plan B."

"There's no need for that." A new, younger voice joined them. The four adults turned to look at the newcomer. "I'm here."

Kidomaru grinned at the boy.

"You're late!" Tayuya accused. Sasuke was reminded of Naruto saying the same thing in the same tone to Kakashi. He pushed the thought aside.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Sasuke asked arrogantly.

"I could fuck you up, for starters." The girl spat, a smile forming in her face.

"Shut up, hag." Sakon ordered. "He's our new leader now, show some respect."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse us for treating you so bad earlier, but we needed you to agree to come." Jirobo said, bowing to the boy.

"You're joking."

"We are not. After you've gone through the awakening ceremony, you'll have the strongest course seal out of all of us. It's only natural that the strongest is the leader." Sakon explained, also bowing to the genin.

"Ceremony? Is that going to grant me my power?" Sasuke asked, restraining his eagerness.

"Hai. We are to perform it as fast as possible." Kidomaru said, standing up and getting in position. Sasuke watched as Sakon summoned a big barrel covered in seals.

"What do I have to do?"

"To put it simply," Sakon said, a playful smile on his face. They were summoning their chakra; it was purple. "Die and be born again."

He chuckled and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"But you'll have to trust us in everything we say and do." Jirobo approached him with a small vial that contained a few dark pellets.

Sasuke didn't ask what they were. He stared at them for a moment and then looked at each sound nin surrounding him.

"Do whatever you have to do to make me stronger." He said with confidence and swallowed the medicine.

* * *

In the loneliness of his apartment, Naruto turned in his sleep restlessly.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Review to let me know what you think.**

** - Patty**


	31. Chapter 31

**NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Hello! I'm gonna finish this story as soon as Jiraiya takes Naruto training, but don't worry because I'll start with the next volume. I just don't want this story to have too many chapters.**

**Also…**

**Thanks to all the people who support this whole thing! I really appreciate it and I just wanted you to know it. **

**Thanks to everyone that reviews! That really makes my day and it makes the chapters worth writing.**

**That's about it…**

**Sorry for any mistakes. I'm sure there are some around here…**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 31

"This is a joke." The Nara stared at her tired eyes with no humor whatsoever. He wasn't laughing for two reasons: One, he had been woken at 4:35 A.M by her mother telling him there was the Hokage accountant asking for him at the door, and two, the news he had just been given by the Hokage were absolutely ridiculous but much to grave to laugh at.

"He's the last Uchiha, why would he leave?"

Tsunade shrugged at his question.

"That's what Haruno-san told barely an hour ago. Tonton broke into Sasuke's apartment to confirm the story. He was nowhere to be seen." Tsunade responded, her eyes were very grave. She too had been woken up way too early.

"Tonton?" Shikamaru raised a lazy eyebrow at the strange name.

"My apprentice's pig…" Tsunade trailed off. "Anyway, these are very bad news for the village. He knows just how much our military force has weakened and is aware about the new security measures we have implemented. He must be brought back immediately."

Shikamaru sighed.

"I don't know why you brought me here in the first place." He scratched his nose. "You should be discussing this with the ANBU squad, or at least a jounin. Kakashi is his sensei, this must concern him better than me."

"Kakashi was called last night to assist on short mission. I would send any other shinobi if there were free personal around, but given the village fragile condition, the higher ups had been dispatched to other missions." _'Helping Jiraiya figure out Akatsuki's next move, for example.' _

"I'm just a chuunin… A newly appointed chuunin. This mission must be at least A-ranked and-"

"I've considered that myself, but you are the most qualified person around to lead this mission." The blond haired woman asserted.

"What about Naruto? He's stronger than me." Shikamaru had no problem admitting that. He knew their strength differences all too well. _'Plus, he's got something fishy under his sleeve.' _How else would he have defeated the Shukaku?

"But you're strong for yourself; besides, I'm not looking for strength on the leader of this mission, but for someone with a brain that can come up with a tactical formation."

Shikamaru frowned. Obviously that wasn't the real reason. _'Sasuke is Naruto's teammate. He wouldn't be able to think right if he was on the lead.' _

"We have reasons to believe that Sasuke is not alone… spawns of Orochimaru might be guiding him."

'_Orochimaru? Damn it… this is getting heavier by the second.' _

"You will need a team."

"I want Naruto in it." Shikamaru said immediately. He was going to be really upset but the Uzumaki is a good asset either way.

Tsunade sighed.

"Off course, but you'll have to be careful dealing with him right now… the news will surely unstable him." A nerve on her hand was twitching. She really needed a drink. "I'm afraid there aren't any other available chuunins around, so you'll have to take genins."

"You can't take too many genins, or you won't be quick enough to catch up with Sasuke. Three more persons tops. I'll let you decide which genin to take."

"Two new chuunin and three genin… that doesn't sound like a very good team." The pineapple haired chuunin started to feel a forming headache. Stuff like these was the reason he didn't want to become a chuunin.

"Don't be so pessimistic. There's a chance that Sasuke and company may run into a jounin team that are supposed to get here by six in the morning. If that happens you'll only have to back them up if necessary."

"That seems too good to be true." Shikamaru slumped his shoulders.

"Enough. You have thirty minutes to gather your team. After that you'll head north through the main gate." Tsunade tucked a strand of her from her face behind her ear. "I'll keep looking for reinforcements for this mission. We need to get Sasuke back."

'_The lack of jounins seems too convenient for Orochimaru's party… even Kakashi is out… could it be that they waited for the circumstances to fall into place or did they arrange for these circumstances?' _His eyes grew somber at the possibilities.

Shikamaru was forced to run towards Naruto's place and made it there in less than five minutes. He took in a deep breath and knocked loudly on the door. He couldn't decide what was more dangerous, having to track down Sasuke or telling Naruto that his friend had ran away.

To his surprise, Naruto answered the door rapidly. He had dark rings under his eyes. _'Here I go.' _Shikamaru explained the facts quickly, focusing on the importance of the mission and trying not to say Sasuke's name too much. Naruto's eyes widened at first and then they narrowed heavily. The blond grabbed Shikamaru by the collar of his vest and lifted him a few inches up in the air.

"**Are you fucking kidding me?!" **His cheeks were flushed with anger and his golden hair seemed to have spiked up. He looked ready to kill.

"Damn it, Naruto, we don't have time for this." The Nara swiped the blond's hands way. "We have twenty minutes to gather the rest and we still don't know who the rest are. If you want to bring him back then cool down and ready up."

"Cool down?! I don't think you understand what just happened! THE BASTARD RAN AWAY WITH OROCHIMARU!" He was breathing heavily. His nails started to elongate but Shikamaru couldn't see them because his fists were clenched. "I'm gonna kill him!"

"If you don't calm down I'm not taking you in this mission." Shikamaru threatened. That seemed to infuriate Naruto even more. Shikamaru felt his anger funneled at him. He tried another approach. "Do you know why you weren't picked to be the leader of this task? Because Tsunade-sama knew you were gonna act like this. You're a good shinobi, Naruto, but if you're gonna let your temper flare like this then you won't contribute anything to the mission."

That seemed to do the trick. Naruto's eyes widened once more; his figure seemed to retreat from him.

Shikamaru was right, as always. He needed to calm down; otherwise he wouldn't be of any use in the mission. _'I need to be part of this.' _

The blond gave a very long sigh.

"Sorry." He said. "I'll be ready in a minute. Whom else do you have in mind?"

"We need trackers to find_ his_ party." Shikamaru started. "Shino should be good at that."

"Shino is in another mission out of town." Naruto replied. He knew that much from Hinata. "Kiba and Akamaru could do the job. Their team specializes in tracking. But they might not be enough… we should add a Hyuuga."

"Hinata?"

"No, not Hinata." The blond said. _'She still doesn't have her whole strength back.' _He told himself, but knew he was lying. She was back on duty again and had been training a lot. _'You just don't want her to be in danger.' _

"Neji." He decided instead.

"Neji? I thought the two of you didn't get along."

"Things have cooled down." Since yesterday. The blond smirked. "Besides, he can fight real well."

"Whatever you say." Shikamaru wasn't so sure but Neji was a Hyuuga genius after all.

"That just leave room for one more." Naruto said.

"Chouji."

"Chouji? But he's…" The blond trailed off. He knew the Nara was fond of him, being best friends and all, but the kid didn't look very fit for the job.

"Believe me, he can do it." Shikamaru assured firmly.

"Fine… you're the boss after all." Naruto joked.

"Hn. I'll go grab Chouji then head to my house to get my gear. You're faster than me so please get the other two."

"All right. I'll get changed." He said and went inside.

He opened a drawer and found a clean grey shirt. He donned a pair of blue pants and grabbed the chuunin vest.

'_I don't get you, Sasuke.' _The blond bit his lip. He tied the kunai holster to his right thigh and clipped two leather pouches full of more knifes and scrolls to the waist of his pants. _'Why would you turn your back on us?' _

Shikamaru was already gone when he exited his house.

Naruto sighed, placing a hand on his stomach. An incredible dread had placed itself there and it made it hard to swallow.

'_I'm gonna go get you and snap some sense into your skull…' _The Kyuubi container forced himself to stop thinking about the Uchiha and start thinking about the matter at hand.

"Kiba first."

* * *

"You must be joking." Kiba responded, starting to get angry. Akamaru was yawning at his side. Naruto had some nerve to wake him up at five in the morning and come up with a twisted story like this… with his chuunin jacket on.

"Do you see me laughing?" Naruto spat. The jacket's pockets were heavy with equipment; he had an extra pouch hanging on the back of his pants.

"No…" The dog trainer rubbed the sleep off his eyes. If this was really true, the village might get in deep trouble again.

"We need your noses." The blond nodded towards them. He could hear barks from within the garage. He was getting nervous. Kiba was measuring him with his brown eyes. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for him to get the Inuzuka. _'Shikamaru would've been more convincing… besides, that mutt is always in a bad mood…' _

"The lazy-ass is the leader, right?" Kiba asked nonchalantly, scratching his head. Naruto nodded. That seemed to satisfy the brunette. "I'll be at the north gate in ten minutes."

Naruto felt a wave of gratitude wash over him. For a moment he thought Kiba might say no.

"Thanks for helping us." The blond said stiffly.

"It's my duty as a ninja." Responded the other boy over his shoulder. "Besides, I can't say no to an A-ranked mission."

'_Furthermore… You saved Hinata that day… I'm in debt to you... Although I still don't know what she was doing in your house in the first place.' _He added grumpily in his mind.

* * *

"Miss! You mustn't get out of the building! It isn't prudent… Hokage-sama still wants to ask you more questions once she gets back!" The young nurse shouted after a running Sakura, but to no avail. The pink-haired girl was already out of sight. _'She's fast for a twelve-year-old.' _

The blue-eyed woman went back to the girl's room and grabbed the emergency phone that rested on the white wall.

She dialed the Hokage's secretary extension and waited.

She noticed there was strands of pink-haired scattered all over the bed and floor.

'_Kami! Did she did that to herself?!' _Thought the young woman, alarmed.

No one was answered the phone on the other end. She hanged up and tried again.

"It must be a busy morning in the Hokage building…"

* * *

Ao yawned, covering his open mouth with a hand. He turned his head towards the inside of the house. He wished his replacement would come soon; his shift had ended five minutes ago.

'_They're just messing with me 'cause it's my first week.' _The short-haired Hyuuga thought sourly.

He sighed. The sun wasn't out yet but the birds had started to chirp frenetically, announcing the start of the early morning.

"I gotta take a leak…" He whined to no one.

He suddenly tensed up, as he sensed a foreign presence approaching rapidly. Ao was about to activate his byakugan when the boy appeared in front of him. The Hyuuga was secretly amazed by his speed; but it wasn't time for that.

"State your business." He commanded, straightening up.

"I need to see Hyuuga Neji ASAP." Answered the blond boy. "It's a very important matter."

"Neji-sama is starting his morning training." Replied the guard, looking at the boy closely. Why did he seem familiar? "You may come after he finishes."

"Didn't you hear me?!" the whiskered boy boomed. "I said it is an urgent matter! I need you to take me to him!"

Ao was momentarily startled by the boy's outburst, but he recovered quickly.

"Whatever it is… It can wait. Hiashi-sama takes time off his busy schedule to train Neji-sama this early in the morning. I cannot let you interrupt-"

"See this?" Naruto spoke slowly but rather dangerously. He was showing the guard his green vest. "This means I'm a chuunin. That means I'm Neji's superior. I'm gonna say it one more time… TAKE ME TO NEJI THIS INSTANT!"

Ao looked at the blond, his mind at a loss. That made sense. _'Damn it, they didn't tell me what to do in these kinds of situations…' _

"…" The man turned his back to Naruto and entered the household.

"Follow me, err…"

"Uzumaki Naruto." The blond responded impatiently.

Ao raised his eyebrows in surprise. No wonder the kid looked familiar…

"You… aren't you the one who defeated Shukaku-"

"What in the world are you doing here so early?!" Neji demanded, appearing from behind a corner with a very angry face. "You are _this_ close to awaken the entire household with your bellow-"

"Sasuke has escaped to Oto, most likely with a bunch of Orochimaru's henchmen. Shikamaru is gathering a five person team that is to leave Konoha in less than fifteen minutes and you've been considered. This mission has been classified as an A-rank but due to the lack of jounins, it has been assigned to us." Naruto said in one breath, raising his voice over Neji's.

The Hyuuga boy started at him with his mouth agape. Naruto recovered his breath.

Neji was trying to formulate words after processing that amount of information.

"What?!" Neji asked, simply perplexed. His voice was joined by a girly one that said the same thing. Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"Who…" the blond asked, poking his head around Neji to see Hinata standing behind him, wearing the same surprised look on her face. Naruto marveled at the Hyuugas ability to be up and ready so early in the morning. Neji dismissed the guard which had been standing there, listening with curiosity.

"Are you positive about all of this? Perhaps Sasuke just didn't come back to his residence…"

"Sakura intercepted him last night leaving the village, so at least we know that he is getting away voluntarily." Naruto's eyes darkened, but he tried to keep his head clear. Hinata saw his struggle. "We need to stop him before he reaches the border with Oto."

"N-Naruto-kun…" the girl whispered, her heart growing worried about the blond. She couldn't fathom his shock at the news, but she knew he must be deeply hurt. _'After all… that fear was eating him up last night…'_

"I must let Hiashi-sama know about the reason for my absence." Neji said rapidly. "and my gear is in the training room… I won't take longer than two minutes." Naruto nodded at him, feeling thankful that he agreed so fast. Neji ran down the hall.

"Are you o-okay?"

Hinata's voice caught his attention.

"That doesn't matter now." The blond responded with tight lips. "I'm just focused on this mission."

"It m-matters." The girl's eyes were searching his but Naruto was looking at every other direction. "I-If you don't feel f-fit for this… maybe s-someone else could go i-instead…"

"What are you saying? I'm his teammate! I should be the only one looking for him." He seemed genuinely insulted that she had suggested that someone else should take his place. This time he looked at her in the eye. His voice was firm but she could see some desperation in his eyes.

"O-Off course. It's just…" The girl trailed off, incapable of expressing her worry for him. Naruto's state of mind was in turmoil, even if he tried to cover that up it would show in his fighting performance. "I-If there's anything I can do… Maybe I c-could join the mission and help w-with whatever I can?" she asked hopeful. She just wanted to go to see that nothing happened to him.

"No." Hinata was surprised at his rapid negative. Naruto seemed alarmed by her proposal. "I can't let you do that. With Neji the team is complete… Besides, you just recovered…" _'And we are dealing with Orochimaru's people. Anyone associated with him is capable of horrendous stuff… I can't let her be exposed to such danger in her state.' _

"I recovered more than a week ago, a-and have been training h-hard since… You just left the hospital yesterday and h-haven't have time to r-recover your full s-strength. B-By that logic, you aren't fit for this mission either." Hinata locked eyes with him, her voice very firm.

Naruto was taken aback by her seriousness. She was right about everything. Naruto had lost a few pounds while being hospitalized because of Tsunade's ordered diet. He hadn't trained for almost three weeks; the whiskered boy was sure his endurance had dropped, along with his speed.

"I'm strong enough to do this." The blond replied confidently. _'Never mind my time at the hospital, I still have the Rasengan and the stamina required to beat Sasuke up after catching up with him… not to mention the fox's chakra.' _

Hinata knew he was going to say something like that, and she believed him. Naruto appeared to follow no logic at all; his strength was off the charts and he seemed to be able to face anyone no matter how strong. Her lilac eyes gave in to his stare.

"I j-just w-would…" she gulped. "I w-would like to go w-with you." Her cheeks were flaring up.

"Hinata… I-"

"B-But I know it w-won't happen." She finished with a sad smile. The blond immediately felt guilty for making her feel rejected.

"Don't feel so down, Hin." Naruto rushed to say, not liking to see her so crestfallen. "Next time I'll take ya for sure. Just leave this one to me, all right?" He smiled confidently at her, pointing his thumb at his chest. It seemed to cheer her up a little.

"Next time, t-then." She said with a smile.

"I promise." The blond laughed, her smile lifting up some of his fears.

"I'm s-sorry this happened." Hinata said gently.

"Nothing's happened yet. He's just being immature." The blond replied, eyes loosing the brightness they gained earlier. "We'll just bring him back here again and everything will be back to normal."

She watched him talking with concern in her mind. _'I'm not sure anything is going to be the same with him, Naruto-kun.' _But she kept that thought to herself. The kunoichi stepped closer to him.

"T-Take care of yourself, p-please." Her eyes looked up tentatively at his. Naruto grinned. "And k-keep an eye out f-for Neji too."

The whiskered boy rolled his eyes but agreed, nonetheless. Hinata giggled; she felt an incredible urge to embrace him in that moment.

"What about me?" Came Neji's voice from behind them. He frowned at Naruto's proximity to his cousin.

"Nothing, princess." Naruto replied with a smirk. A vein popped on Neji's temple at the nickname. The older Hyuuga might see it as an insult but Hinata knew it was Naruto's way to be friendly. The only thing good about this mission is that they might actually bond.

"What-"

"Ready yet? We don't have all day."

"I am." The Hyuuga replied sternly. Naruto was reminded of Hiashi. "Hinata-sama." He said respectfully, inclining his head curtly.

"Good bye, Neji-niisan. Naruto-kun." She addressed both boys. "Be c-careful."

Naruto assured her one last time that they'd be all right.

"We aren't going to fight today, are we?" Neji said as they walked through the entrance doors.

"Most likely not… there's nothing we can do about it, though." The blond scratched his cheek. "Don't worry; I can beat you any other day if you like."

"Do you ever stop being so conceited?"

"Look who's talking, Hyuuga."

The ghost of a smile appeared on the older boy's face.

* * *

"Damn it what is taking him so long?!" Naruto was pacing up and down the dirt road under the main gate. The last of his patience was burning out. The chuunin had used great deal of it trying to calm Kiba down; he was furious that Neji was coming with them. Apparently the dog master was still pissed at him for hurting Hinata; feeling that Naruto could relate to.

Thankfully Shikamaru had stepped forward before Kiba could throw himself at Neji, who was tempting the Inuzuka with his cold demeanor, telling him that it had been his choice to add Neji to the team and if he didn't like it he should just go back to sleep. That ended with Kiba being furious to not only Shikamaru but also Naruto, for trying to defend Neji's part on the mission.

The blond thought Kiba would get to a point where he was going to spit foam from his mouth.

"I guess this shows just how much you care for her, huh?" Kiba hissed, very close to Naruto's face, in a low voice so only the blond could hear him. Naruto didn't appreciate being questioned in such a tone, but he restrained himself from talking back to him in an attempt to keep him on the team. The dog master then walked past him and pushed Naruto's shoulder with his own harshly.

Kiba had stayed, but Chouji was still missing.

"He told me he wouldn't take long…" Shikamaru said wit exasperation. He sighed one more time.

"I don't know why you want to bring him along… The kid isn't made for this. I mean we're on a tracking mission and you go for the fat-" Kiba was crossing his arms tightly. He wasn't in the mood to be patient.

"Don't call him that." The ponytailed boy urged. "He's a good ninja. You just haven't seen him fight with his whole strength." The pineapple-haired chuunin said defensively.

"Well, I fought him in the chuunin prelims and he didn't…"

"You tied. That just shows he's on your same level." Shikamaru finished for him firmly. Kiba wanted to say something else, but Chouji arrived before he could.

"Finally!" Shikamaru heard Naruto exclaimed.

"Sorry guys… I had trouble finding my pills." The Akimichi said, embarrassed to his new team.

"Pills?" Neji raised an eyebrow, wanting Chouji to elaborate more about that. The beefy boy immediately produced a smile when he started talking about the pills his family made, but he didn't get to talk much since Naruto cut him off.

"We don't have time for any of that. Sasuke and company already have five hours on us and they're still on the move."

"Naruto's right. We ought to think of a proper formation and head out immediately." Neji piped in. He turned his pupil-less eyes to the leader. "Any ideas?"

The Nara nodded as he started to speak.

"We have a solid idea of their direction but the forest is too big, therefore we need to know where they are as soon as we are close enough. It won't be that easy though, they know that Konoha would send someone after them; there's a big chance that we could get ambushed and I'm positive there will be various traps on the way. They are going to be alert and so should we." Shikamaru ran his eyes through every member of his team, making sure they were listening carefully.

They were.

"We will adopt a single line formation so we can react to a surprise enemy attack." He turned his grey eyes to Kiba and his companion. "I want you and Akamaru to stay up front. I hope your noses can detect not only Sasuke's but the enemies' scent."

"Count on that." Kiba said with a small smile. He was starting to get excited about all this.

"I'll follow the two of you so I can spread orders depending on what happens out there. You're up next, Naruto." Shikamaru pointed a lazy finger at his fellow chuunin. The blond had his arms folded in front of him. "I've seen your speed. You can cover the front and end promptly, can you not?"

"I can do that and much more." The blond said. He wanted to smile but the nerves didn't let him.

"Chouji you're up next. We can use your bullet tank as a finishing blow in a surprise attack. Make sure not to hold back." Chouji smiled uneasily at this.

"That leaves me in the rear, then. I'm guessing is because of my byakugan?" Neji said smugly, a thin smile on his face. He wasn't good at following orders given by others that weren't part of the Hyuuga clan, but the Nara seemed to know what he was doing. _'No wonder he made it to chuunin.' _

"Make sure to watch our backs."

Neji nodded curtly. Naruto watched from the corner of his eye Kiba snarling at the Hyuuga. He sighed and praised Shikamaru's decision for placing those two at opposite ends. _'He takes everything into account. Not only official matters but personal also.'_

"All right. I'll give you more details as soon as we are on the move; we don't have time to lose." Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed. "Are you ready?"

"Somebody's coming." Neji announced, looking behind them. Everyone turned their heads on that direction. Naruto's eyes widened in horror as soon as he saw Sakura landing on the ground.

"Sakura, what the hell happened to you?" The rest of the boys stared at her.

She was panting, a fine sheen of sweat covered her forehead. Her pink hair, normally very well kept, was standing up in odd angles on some parts while in others there just seemed to be some hair missing; it was really messed up.

"Did… Did Sasuke do that to you?!" Naruto realized he hadn't thought of Sakura ever since Shikamaru told him about Sasuke. He had told him Sakura was the one who crossed him while he was leaving the village but his mind had been too troubled to think about her. _'If I'm this concerned about Sasuke… Imagine what she's feeling right now! She must be crushed.'_

The girl shook her head violently. The whiskered boy just noticed there were tears running down her face.

"Please…" She gasped. Her eyes were blood-shot and she had rings under her eyes.

"I can't take you." Shikamaru said in a monotone. "You already did what you could to stop him and failed; there's no choice for us but to use force to persuade him to come back."

She stepped towards them, ignoring Shikamaru's words.

"Sakura, I told yo-"

"Naruto, please…" The pink-haired girl was now standing in front of said person. He was staring at her with his blue orbs. "I couldn't stop him… He…" She sobbed a bit but got it under control.

Chouji was looking at her worriedly, as well as Akamaru.

"You're the only one who can save him now." Her voice was pained and strained by the tears. Sakura let her head fall down on Naruto's chest. Her hands were pressed on his front. "Please bring him back."

The blond was speechless. _'Sasuke… you did this.' _She was broken beyond words. He gathered his breath and grabbed both her shoulders.

"Sakura." His voice made her look up at him. Her eyes were dull and desperate. "I'll bring him back this same day, you hear? Then I'll make him apologize to you." He smiled at her reassuringly.

Naruto didn't give Sakura time to reply. The chuunin summoned a clone and told him to take Sakura home.

"Thank you." Was the last thing she said before being taken away by the obedient clone. The five boys and one dog were left in silence. Chouji and Kiba were sending Naruto worried glances.

"Let's go." The blond growled with a voice that didn't seem his own. It startled Akamaru.

* * *

The sun was up and shinning now; its rays went directly through the Hokage's office windows and onto Tsunade's face.

"We have located the Haruno girl." Aoba was reporting, standing straight in the middle of her office. "Her mother called us as soon as she entered her residence; she was brought up by a clone of Uzumaki Naruto."

"That's good news." The Hokage responded. The Godaime was worried that Sakura had gone after Shikamaru's team to try and go with them. The shock given by Sasuke left her in no condition to perform any activity. _'I doubt she can even mold chakra properly right now.' _

"Did you send your summon with the message?" The woman asked, turning on her chair to face the young man.

He nodded, fixing his sunglasses. "If they follow the path we assume, it may be possible for my crow to find them. But I can't guarantee much."

"Let's pray they receive the message. If Shikamaru needs help, they may be the only ones to arrive on time." Her eyes narrowed. An hour ago a couple of kids found a dead chuunin hidden inside a box near the main entrance. His head had been smashed into pieces and the children ran to their parents with terrified looks on their faces. Tsunade had dispatched a member of the Inuzuka clan to clear up the murder.

She had found four new scents lingering by the box.

'_Four sound shinobi plus Sasuke and five Konoha nins… I actually chose the correct number of people for the team.' _She bit her lower lip nervously. Normally she wouldn't win any bets or gambles, but in the rare occasions she did something disastrous happened afterwards.

"Kakashi and his squad will arrive today sometime in the afternoon. Go to the north gate and tell the guards to inform him of what happened as soon as he sets foot in the village. His team is to go aid Shikamaru's squad."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Responded Aoba obediently.

"And tell them to keep an eye out for Shizune." The blond-haired woman said gravely. "Shikamaru might be in need of a medic-nin."

* * *

"Did you feel that?" Raidou asked to his companions, looking suspiciously at the trees surrounding them.

"That chakra…" Shizune pondered out loud, stopping on her tracks.

"What do you think that is?" Iwashi asked, sitting on a tree root and massaging his half-healed ankle.

"Beats me. But it's moving away from the village." Genma narrowed his eyes.

"We should see to that." Suggested the female of the group. She looked at her team leader expectantly.

Genma nodded.

"Raidou, come with me. We shall investigate." He turned to his bearded teammate and the medic-nin. "Iwashi isn't fit for another fight. Shizune-san, please stay with him."

Although reluctant, Tsunade's assistant nodded curtly. One of the downsides of being a medic-nin was the need of the team to protect her at all costs.

"If we aren't back in thirty minutes that means we ran into trouble." Finished the brown haired man ominously. He and his partner disappeared into thin air.

* * *

They hadn't talked much, apart from some of Shikamaru's further details on the formation. He wanted to avoid any attempt of ambush by all means, so he even commanded each of them to look at one specific direction all the time, so there were no blind spots. Neji was supposed to watch the back, Kiba and Shikamaru the front, Naruto left and Chouji right.

Naruto thought the Nara was being paranoid. If the enemy were to ambush them, Kiba and Akamaru would be able to tell with some time to spare to take defensive stands. Naruto would be able to tell too. _'We should just focus on tightening our pace. If we waste time on so many preventions Sasuke's going to get away.' _His eyes travelled to Shikamaru's back. Naruto was tempted to tell him that but decided not to. It wouldn't be good to contradict his orders on his first appointed mission; they were even good tactics. _'He just wants us to finish this mission alive.' _Naruto discovered. After all, he was the one responsible for all of their lives today. The outcome of this task will mark him forever on his ninja career.

The blond sighed and turned his head left, watching the trees pass by rapidly. He heard Chouji behind him fumbling with something on his pocket and muttering under his breath. At first he thought he was getting tired and was panting but then he realized he was counting a few dark blue pellets on his pouch. He was surprised that Chouji was keeping up his pace like the rest. The whiskered kid had had the feeling the plump boy wouldn't be able to keep up with them but he was proven wrong. _'I wonder how he trains.' _Naruto inquired distractedly, looking at the good humored Akimichi.

"What is it, Naruto?" the boy asked innocently. Apparently he had caught the blond looking at him.

"Nothing." The blond replied. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

But the Akimichi was always happy to converse.

"How are you holding up?" he asked innocently but with a little concern at the same time. Naruto quirked an eyebrow, his mood worsening by the minute.

"What are you talking about?" The Kyuubi container asked suspiciously.

Their little word exchange had attracted the others' attention. Shikamaru cursed lowly at his teammate's failure to recognize a delicate topic. Before the Nara could stop him, Chouji spoke,

"About Sasuke." The big boy replied matter-of-factly. Kiba also turned his head, interested about the conversation. "You know, he was your teammate and I'm sure it isn't easy to have this happen to you."

"Nothing has happened yet." The blond hissed. "He just had a tantrum, and they're not uncommon on him. I'll knock sense back to him and drag him back to the village."

Kiba had the urge to correct Naruto in saying "I", like he was the only one in the retrieval mission. But Chouji continued to speak.

"But if he left the village once… don't you think that even if we brought him back he'll-"

"Chouji." Shikamaru intervened harshly. "We need to concentrate. Please be quiet." The Akimichi looked at his friend apologetically.

"No. What were you going to say about Sasuke?" Naruto demanded hotly, his eyebrows knitted together. "He'll what?"

"Well I only thought that…" Naruto's gaze started to intimidate the Akimichi. There was a voice in Chouji's head telling him that it was best to stop talking.

"What?" The blond prodded.

"…He'd likely want to run away again." Chouji finished timidly, wishing he hadn't talked at all. Naruto's face first showed surprise. The round boy saw that that thought hadn't occurred to the blond at all.

The whiskered boy's features then started to darken dangerously. His eyes narrowed and his hands clenched into a ball.

"He w-"

"Stop it. We need to stay alert." Neji said from behind, an annoyed look on his face. Unlike Chouji, he wasn't nervous about Naruto's killing stare. "If you lose your focus the whole mission will be in jeopardy."

Shikamaru sent a grateful glance at the Hyuuga, surprised by his interest in the team's harmony.

But Naruto was hardly listening. He opened his mouth to speak, but Shikamaru wasn't about to deal with any nonsense.

"We first take Sasuke back." He said slowly. "Then you can handle him in whatever way you want. Now shut up." The pineapple-haired boy turned his head forward, signalizing the end of the conversation; but he could feel Naruto's eyes boring into the back of his neck. _'I didn't think guys could be this troublesome.' _

Akamaru started to produce a series of barks, his furry head turned to his master.

"How far?" Kiba asked his dog, eyes narrowing. The boys listened carefully as the dog emitted an unsure growl.

"What did he say?" Shikamaru asked.

"Whoa! That's so cool! You can understand what he says?" The Akimichi said.

"Not now, Chouji…" The Nara spoke tiredly. Chouji apologized, embarrassed.

"Someone's been fighting just ahead of us. But he can't tell how far ahead it was." The brunette genin responded, deciding to answer Shikamaru's question instead of Chouji's. "It was a pretty big one, judging from the smell of powder, dark chakra and... spiders."

"Spiders?" The blond said. Kiba shrugged his shoulders.

"Neji, could you please try and see what this is all about?"

The Hyuuga genius was already calling forward his blood limit. A few seconds passed before anyone spoke.

"There are two Konoha shinobi ahead, at roughly one kilometer and a half from us. They've been defeated and are badly hurt, one being mortally wounded, but two others are coming to their aid." There was a pause. "The enemies headed north-east from us… I can't see them now but there's some blood trails heading that way." he frowned. "I dare say the blood belongs to the shinobi we're after."

'_His range exceeds Hinata's.' _Kiba though disapprovingly.

"Should we go and help them, Shikamaru?" The plump, tattooed boy asked worriedly.

"Are you kidding? We've finally caught sight of Sasuke's party!" Naruto exclaimed.

"But…"

"Naruto's right, Chouji. Our mission is to bring Sasuke back at any cost." Shikamaru responded calmly. "Besides, there's help coming their way. We don't need to worry about them."

"Can you tell how bad the confrontation was?" the mission leader inquired.

"That spot is a battlefield. And the two newcomers are jounin level; that would make the other two also jounin." Neji commented, dismissing his jutsu.

The dark haired boy nodded slowly, eyes narrowing slightly. _'How strong can they be? They manage to take out two jounins.' _He swallowed nervously. This wasn't looking good for them at all. Should they really follow them?

"They're going to be more careful now that they know other ninjas are around." Naruto said, eyes looking ahead of him, towards the woods.

Despite his desperation to catch up with Sasuke, Naruto was still thinking rationally. Shikamaru frowned. _'We can't go back, now that they've attacked our own. Besides… how to convince Naruto to go back?' _

"And they'd most likely put up traps." Kiba added with a smirk, excitement starting to build up in his stomach. "After all, they're wounded and I bet my jacket they will try to get some rest."

"You'll have to sharpen your nose." Shikamaru said. "If we activate a trap we'll lose the element of surprise, and right now that's our most important advantage." He looked at Chouji from the corner of his dark eyes. The boy seemed unsure about the whole thing. _'There'll be a fight, Chouji, and you better be ready for it.' _

Neji was wearing a small smile, Shikamaru noticed. _'Apart from Chouji, everyone else seems fired up. I wonder if that's a good thing.' _

Despite himself, the Nara also felt a tingling sensation forming up in his navel. A sly smile climbed to his lips.

* * *

"Gahh! Just my luck!" Sakon lamented bitterly, his left hand firmly pressed against his eye… or what was left of it. "Damn it, it hurts!"

"Orochimaru-sama will replace it as soon as we get back to the hideout." Tayuya said without much interest on his misery. She was tired herself; her chakra levels lower than they had been in a long time.

"We are already late. I doubt he will be so kind." Kidomaru said gloomily.

"If we deliver Sasuke to him, he'll spare our lives. After all, he needs us. We're his strongest warriors."

"Keep still, I'm almost finished." Jirobo was working on a bandage around Sakon's head. A bloodied piece of cloth lay discarded on the ground.

"Not so hard!" Sakon hissed, his face covered in sweat, grime and blood. The grey haired ninja cursed the Konoha shinobi that had managed to cut his eyeball in half. That earned the attacker a knife in the chest.

"Don't be such a pussy." The only woman in the group spat, her arm resting on top of Sasuke's container. "It's already starting to heal."

Indeed, the deep cut across his left eye was sizzling and releasing a clear colored steam. Sakon and Ukon had the quickest healing rate out of all the others.

"But I still lost my eye, woman! Have you any idea how much that hurts?" the man was clearly furious about the whole situation.

"I'm too tired to argue right now." Tayuya sighed. Her wounds and the ones on everyone else on the group were already on the final stages of healing. Every time they used the powers of the cursed seal, their injuries didn't last long on their bodies. And neither did their chakra.

"We can't stay still for too long." Kidomaru said, four of his six hands busy holding strands of spider-web. One of them had started to vibrate, making his finger tingle. "Someone's following us."

Everyone else's head snapped in attention, tension filling up their stomachs.

"This isn't our day, is it?" The long-haired woman exclaimed sarcastically, throwing her arms at the sky.

"Who else can it be?" Jirobo asked, tying up the ends of the white cloth tightly. This earned a groan from Sakon.

"Maybe the rest of the team of the jounins we fought?" Kidomaru offered, his eyes attentive on his spider-webs.

"Don't think so. You know how Konoha nins are. They'd try to save their teammates lives first than following us." Tayuya said disdainfully.

"Doesn't matter now." Sakon slowly rose to his feet. Half his face was covered in bright red blood. "Jirobo, give each of us a pill."

The orange-haired ninja tensed at his request.

"In this state… we might even need to use the curse again!" he protested. "Our bodies won't take it after that!"

"Then try not to reach stage two." The one-eyed shinobi suggested. "We can't fail this mission."

Heavy silence fell on the group. They looked at each other gravely. Finally, Jirobo took out four purple pills from his pouch. They were about the size of a marble.

"Damn it!" Tayuya said with clenched fists before she took and swallowed the Soldier Pill. Her male teammates followed.

"We better get to Oto before this wears off." Kidomaru bit into his pill, making the contents in it fill his mouth and stomach. A sudden burst of power exploded in his insides, filling the almost empty channels of chakra in his body.

Even though his worries were high, the newly found energy made him push those thoughts aside. His arms flexed vigorously, letting go of the spider-webs that had been attached to his hands. Right now he was invincible; why would he need the curse seal if the power he experimented at that instant was enough to finish anyone with one good punch.

"Ah!" he laughed vigorously. "I had forgotten how great this felt!"

"How long 'till they reach us?" Tayuya asked energetically, grinning madly.

"I believe they're already here." The man with his dark hair on a ponytail took out one kunai with an attached explosive tag and hurled it into a tree with medium-sized bushes surrounding it.

A lasting boom disturbed the forest silence. A few dozens of birds resting on the high trees scurried rapidly away from the commotion. The Sound Four stood expectantly, waiting for someone to appear.

But no one did.

"Kidomaru." Sakon ordered, nodding towards the now burned bushes.

"Yeah, I know." His chest inflated as well as his cheeks. Kidomaru then spat a spike of thick, solid web, in the shape of an oversized arrow. The elongated substance went beyond a few bushes rapidly, until it hit its target. A loud yell followed.

"Ha! Got you!" Kidomaru muttered happily, snapping the substance from his mouth and taking it in his hands, slowly dragging the spike back.

"It just a damn kid!" exclaimed Tayuya as soon as he saw a blond boy being dragged towards them with his right thigh pierced and half his face and arm moderately burned.

The kid grunted in pain, a hand trying to rip the arrow out.

"We must've left Konoha in pretty bad shape for it to send a boy after us." Jirobo chuckled, taking a step forward to look at the newcomer closely.

The six-armed ninja finally pulled the boy all the way towards him. Discarding the material that came out of his mouth, he grabbed the boy by his hair and pulled him up to face him. The boy grimaced in pain.

"Are you lost, kid? What the hell are you doing here?" Kidomaru grinned widely as he watched the young shinobi trying to break his grip with weak hands. The sound team laughed. "Did you steal this jacket from your papa?"

"And to think we ate a soldier pill because of you." Sakon said in a very bad humor. He dashed forward and grabbed the kid by his throat, earning a strangled grunt from the blond. "You don't deserve a quick death, but given our schedule, I'm forced to crush your throat right here and now."

The boy had intended to say something but the big hands around his neck starting to squeeze savagely. Tayuya, crossed armed and with a smile on her face suddenly frowned.

"Do you hear that?" she asked suspiciously. A sizzling sound was buzzing in the air.

"It's coming from him." Jirobo noted, leaning towards the dying boy.

Unbelievably, the young boy with a chuunin jacket said something.

"Suckers." He grinned at them. Suddenly Sakon figured it out.

Screaming for his team to get away from him, the ninja leaped in different directions, just in time before the tags exploded on their noses. The force of the explosion hurled them into the ground or, in Tayuya and Kidomaru's case, a robust tree.

Waves of dirt and sand washed over them, littering their eyes and throats. After a while the roar of the explosion receded, leaving only the angry sounds of the team as they stood up.

"The hell was that?!" Kidomaru said through a broken nose, which was already starting to heal. "I'd have never thought of Konoha making a boy commit suicide in an attempt like that!"

"It was a kage bunshin, you moron." Tayuya replied, spitting some blood out of her mouth. Her good mood was quickly vanishing.

"You expect me to believe a bunshin can withstand stabbings and third-degree burns?" Jirobo asked, removing dust from his pants.

"Fuck!" The grey haired ninja cursed, veins starting to show on his forehead. His partners turned to him with a questioning look. The smoke had cleared now, and their current leader was staring at the spot where they had been sitting a minute ago.

"What?" Tayuya inquired, unable to see anything out of normal.

"Sasuke's gone!"

The Sound Four's faces paled at the same time, noticing that the young Uchiha's container was nowhere to be seen.

"We were _so_ close!" Jirobo lamented, fists shaking with anger.

"He can't be far away." Their leader said in a low tone. Narrowed eyes turned to Kidomaru, signalizing him to start looking for the enemy. Dark stains started to spread all over the six-armed shinobi, reaching his face and extremities. Said ninja closed his eyes and opened them fifteen seconds later, pointing south west firmly.

"There's a convoy of five boys and a dog moving rapidly, Uchiha's container with them. There's also a cloned convoy moving south from us trying to fool us into following that group instead. They're not a mile away from us yet." His eyebrows knitted together. "There's also someone coming from the Sound frontier's direction. I can't make out who it is, but he is rushing towards us."

"I won't let anyone else take this job from us." Spat Sakon. "C'mon. We're gonna kill more Konoha shinobi."

* * *

"They're closing in, Shikamaru." Neji's voice came from behind the line. "Fast." He retreated his byakugan. His eyes were starting to throb.

The wooden container had stopped smoking three minutes ago. The explosion had reached it but the damage was minimal. Naruto had meant to stick four more explosive tags to his clone, in hopes he could kill one of the enemies, but Shikamaru had insisted that too much explosive power could also kill Sasuke.

'_What the hell are you doing in there?' _Naruto wondered, as the container spilled some kind of weird chakra through its pores and into the blond's back, making him feel chilly. Sasuke's dead weight inside the receptacle made it hard for the Kyuubi jailer to jump freely. He had already tried calling him but the Uchiha seemed to be dead in there. No response whatsoever.

"Can't we just get him out? I can feel him banging against the walls every time I move." The blond tried to look backwards towards Shikamaru, but the oversized casket prevented him from seeing anything directly behind him. He was carrying it on his back, with both his hands holding it in place, since the purple strands that served to shoulder the barrel had been burned during the attack. It resembled a big, stiff, heavy back pack.

"We don't know what that chakra is doing, it might be dangerous." Responded the pineapple-haired boy.

"Four against five… No. Four against four. Naruto needs to take Sasuke to Konoha." The Nara said to himself.

"I can fight! If we use our number advantage we can kill them all, and make sure they can't cause trouble again." The whiskered boy suggested.

"We can't risk losing Sasuke." Countered Shikamaru.

"We'll take care of the bastards when they come." Kiba assured with a grin.

"I'm not comfortable leaving you behind. Maybe I can use some clones to hold them off and-"

"-Watch out!" Neji snapped, his eyes widening in horror.

Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji could only watch as a tall man appeared above Naruto, a sword on his hand. It was coming right to the blond's skull, ready to pierce the top of his head. The blond had no choice but to let go of the barrel and leap forward as fast as he could.

His head dodged the blade by mere inches and the container fell freely down the canopy, followed rapidly by the newcomer. The white haired man attached the casket to his hand using chakra and leapt in the opposite direction, leaving as fast as he arrived.

The group of young boys stared in shock. Kiba finally broke out of his trance, jumping into action.

"He's got Sasuke!" The feeling of humiliation started filling his guts. The man hadn't even spared a glance at them. "We gotta catch up with him!"

The others followed, Naruto being the last to move, as he was still thinking about how stupid he had been to let go of the barrel.

"How? We didn't even feel him arrive; he's too fast for us." Chouji said, unable to locate the stranger's chakra.

"Shouldn't have dispelled my byakugan." Neji chastised himself. Shikamaru ignored his comment.

"We're heading head first into the others." His mind was racing through alternatives. _'That man wasn't on my calculations.' _"This is something I didn't count on."

"I'm going after him!" The blond announced catching up with his team, voice shaking with wrath. Shikamaru frowned at him, not wanting the blond to get separated from the group. "I may be able to reach him before he crosses de border!"

"There are four others waiting for us! They won't let you pass." The dog trainer protested.

"I can break through them, but you'll have to keep them busy so I can face that bastard alone." Naruto countered. Kiba and Naruto turned to look at Shikamaru. The shadow user was impressed. He knew the Uzumaki's urge to follow that guy, but still he was talking to him, asking for his permission to go.

"We should not be improvising like this…" He told himself, thinking how this mission was taking a turn for the worst.

"We can take them on." The byakugan user assured with a serious face. "Now there's one opponent for each of us."

"C'mon, Shikamaru!" The blond prodded urgently. "We're going to lose him!" The pine-apple haired boy wondered if he was talking about that white-haired guy or Sasuke.

"We'll help you as soon as we finish with those sound nins." The Nara finally said. Chouji swallowed hard.

Without wasting any more time, Naruto deactivated his weights. After a few seconds, he was out of sight.

Kiba thought that he should start wearing weights too.

"Prepare for a direct confrontation." Their leader announced, a bad feeling eating up his entrails.

* * *

"Wasn't he as good as dead?" Demanded to know Tayuya, beads of cold sweat running down her temples.

"Kabuto must have done something to him." Kidomaru snarled, his markings had receded and his skin was back to normal. "He likes to play with the sick."

"And the dead." Added Tayuya with disgust. "Whatever he did to him, it can't last much. His time is almost over."

The Sound Four pushed chakra to their feet so they could catch up to the Konoha group. They, too, had been rendered speechless as they saw Kimimaro leaping across tree branches above them. The white-haired sound shinobi glanced at them before continuing forward.

"Does this means our time is up?" Jirobo asked nervously, looking at the ground.

"Didn't I just tell you?! Orochimaru-sama needs this team. He won't dispose of us if we arrive a bit late." Sakon barked at his fat teammate.

"But if he sent Kimimaro… he must have been desperate." Continued the orange-haired shinobi.

"Here he comes." Announced Kidomaru.

A grey blur came directly at them. Tayuya swallowed nervously as Kimimaro slowed down. The Sound Four looked at the container under his arm.

"Glad you're back." Jirobo tried to smile as he watched Kimimaro retreat the sword into his body.

The sickly man turned to look at him, eyes cold and blood-shot.

"I'm just here to clean up your mess." He said in a monotone. "Kabuto-sama said he couldn't wait anymore."

"Does that mean he already changed bodies?" Tayuya questioned. She looked over at the container. It was releasing dark, purple smoke into the air. She could feel the great power sleeping inside.

"He granted me two hours." Answered Kimimaro, turning his head. "They're coming."

"We'll take care of them." Sakon spoke quickly.

"Try to do that at least." Commented the man, glancing at Sakon's bloody face. "They're just children after all." He left after saying that.

"Arrogant bastard." Sakon muttered, looking at Kimimaro's retreating back. "Why couldn't Kabuto just let him die?"

"He was supposed to be Orochimaru's new body. I guess he's still fond of him." Kidomaru said, massaging his neck tiredly. His eyes suddenly sharpened. "That boy is coming."

"Is he the real one? 'Cause I'd _really_ like to break his pretty face." The woman hissed with a sadistic grin starting to form on her face.

"I'll catch him for you." Kidomaru said, spitting a big spider web from his mouth straight at the blond. Naruto, in mid air, created a clone whose back he used as a support to jump higher and avoid the substance.

The Uzumaki fell through the forest, directly towards the four surprised adults, with an extended foot that connected with Kidomaru's gaping face. Not wasting any time, he dropped a kunai with an explosive paper tagged to it and left the scene quickly, pushing more chakra to his feet so he could leave the scene before the blast caught him in.

Jirobo grabbed one of Kidomaru's arms and pulled him apart. The web user was hissing in pain and massaging a broken nose and tooth.

Naruto's attack had, yet again, pushed the group off their feet and into other branches. After the smoke had cleared Tayuya and Jirobo looked around in search for the blond but he had already left.

"He's not getting away this time." Tayuya hissed, taking out her flute. But to her anger, four other children had already arrived, and she found herself being dragged away by a shadow to the east part of the forest.

"You're gonna dance with me." A boy drawled with a small smile, a few branches away from her. To her surprise, his shadow was connected to hers and an invisible force was making her move exactly as he did.

A bit to her left she could see that Jirobo was being pushed into the earth by a gigantic hand that belonged to a fat boy. Also, a long-haired boy was starting to escape from Kidomaru's spider web jutsu.

Sakon and Ukon were nowhere to be seen.

'_I can't believe we've been ambushed by a bunch of brats!' _she screamed in her mind. The shadow of a hand was quickly making its way towards her throat. She frowned.

"You've given us too much trouble." She spat, trying to force his jutsu away from her. "I'm gonna return that favor."

Before Shikamaru could say anything, she started to activate her curse seal. Intricate dark lines danced along her skin while her chakra level increased.

The Nara paled. His jutsu had been negated.

"I'm taking your head to Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

"You used quite a lot of energy to match my speed." The green-eyed man said impassively to the boy. Once he had reached him, the man dropped to the forest floor and faced him. His eyes travelled to the smoking sandals of the blond. "But you don't know how to channel it, do you? Your shoes are melting, and I bet the soles of your feet are burnt."

Ignoring his chat, the blond dashed towards him, trying to impale his heart with a kunai, but the man teleported a few feet behind him. The white-haired man hadn't even break a sweat after the persecution, but Naruto had his back drenched in sweat and his lungs asked for him to slow down and get some more air.

"I'm Kimimaro." The man said politely yet coldly. Naruto just glared at him; he wondered where his sword had gone. "You don't talk much, do you?"

The man was tall and thin, with two red dots adorning his lower forehead. His voice was low but clear and his eyes were dull but penetrating.

"I want Sasuke back." Demanded the young chuunin, nodding to the container. "What is happening to him?"

The purple haze had caught his attention. A low vibration could be felt coming from the barrel.

"He's being reborn." Replied Kimimaro with a small smile.

"That's nonsense." Naruto said, his frown deepening.

"You're right. I didn't express myself clearly." The thin man walked up to the barrel and placed a hand on top of it. "His powers are the ones being reborn. They are reaching impossible levels, and all thanks to Orochimaru-sama."

At the mention of the Snake lord, Naruto's fists clenched.

"What does he want with Sasuke?" The blond growled. Surely the kind of power that guy was talking about didn't come for free.

"He will be Orochimaru-sama's new body." Answered Kimimaro with a fond smile. His eyes glistening with endearment.

Naruto didn't think he would ever be this disgusted. The whole sentence was repulsive to his ears. Surely Sasuke didn't know the whole story behind his power. Naruto was sure that the Uchiha would never allow Orochimaru to take over his body.

"I can assure you that won't happen." Naruto said through gritted teeth, taking out another kunai.

"I'm afraid you can't do anything about it." The man removed his shirt and extended his neck to the left. He was so thin Naruto could see the shadow of his ribs. "Orochimaru-sama is meant to live forever."

Naruto wasn't expecting what happened next.

Clean, white bone emerged from within his skin. Kimimaro gripped what seemed to be the handle of a large bone-sword. As he finished extracting the medium-sized weapon, the whiskered boy wondered why there was no blood leaking out of his body.

'_I've never heard of a jutsu that could do this.' _The blond told himself. "It's a Kekkei Genkai, then."

Kimimaro seemed to have heard him, because he nodded subtly and smiled. Then he lurched forward, sword raised high above his head, ready to fall on his victim.

Naruto didn't move, but instead blocked the falling weapon with his kunai. A piercing pain spreading down his chest followed, along with the sound of metal falling to the soft ground.

"Ugh." Muttered the blond, staggering backwards and looking dumbly at what was left of his knifes. They had been cut clean from their blade, as well as his flesh. A streak of red was running vertically on the left part of his vest, where the end of the "blade" had cut him.

Naruto was still wondering how bone could be sharper than steel when the man attacked again. This time he dodged to the side as fast as he could, but the man made his attacks continuous.

"I can manipulate the cells on my skeletal structure at will." His blade fell repeatedly, looking for Naruto. "Regenerate them at will, and control their density, so they can be harder than steel."

Kimimaro's movements were getting faster, and Naruto knew he couldn't be on the defensive forever. Dodging one last swing from his sword, the blond ducked and sprung towards him, managing to stop his attack by blocking his arm with his forearm and launched a punch to his chest.

His fist was halfway there when four small bones protruded from Kimimaro's forearms, slashing angrily at Naruto's arm.

With yet another yell, the blond jumped backwards until he was at a safe distance from him.

"Close combat won't help you beat me." Kimimaro said, retreating the bones on his forearms. Naruto panted while he gripped his bloodied arm.

'_No good. I can't take Sasuke back if I don't beat this freak. If I don't finish this soon… ' _The blond tried to swallow but his throat was much too dry. _'And I don't know any long-ranged attack… I'll have to keep him busy until I think of a plan.' _

With shaking hands, he summoned fifty kage bunshins; all with shurikens on their pouches.

"Get him." He pointed to the calm man, right hand dripping blood. His new cut was a centimeter deep.

Half the clones sprang forward with battle cries on their mouths.

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes as he called out new bones at impossible places on his body. Also, the curse seal on his chest activated, marking his skin with black labyrinths all over his body. Knuckles, palms, both elbows, back and legs housed sharp, hard bone that pierced the bunshins easily. His speed seemed to have increased. The man was swift and skillful as he dashed through the clones that wore kunai menacingly. Soon, the ground was filled with smoke and cries of pain. Kimimaro had already finished the last clone and retreated his bones, but at the same time a pair of hands came out of the earth and grabbed his ankles firmly.

Orochimaru's henchman was surprised by the jutsu but not enough to lose focus on the battle. Forcing spikes out of his ankles, he impaled the hands of his enemy. Surprisingly, the bloodied hands didn't lose their grip. He raised his arm to finish the blond hiding beneath him but a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his back and arms, restraining his movements forcefully.

"Close ranged attacks won't work." Reminded the man calmly, as his back sprung four bone spikes out, piercing the blond's chest and stomach.

Unbelievingly, the clone didn't disappear. Only a gasp of pain and the sound of teeth pressing against each other were heard. _'Why didn't it disappear? I punctured his vital points.' _

A loud cry coming from the smoke in front of him made Kimimaro raise his head. It was hard to see clearly through the pollution but he could make out a ball of bright, blue light. A second later, the image became more clear.

His eyes widened. Chakra concentrated that much could surely kill him if he got a direct hit. Now he could see the Konoha chuunin, lunging at him without any hesitation, blue eyes glinting with the jutsus' light.

"**Rasengan!" **

Kimimaro had never heard of that jutsu before. He acted quickly; pulling out his ribcage to the surface and hardening the ribs, the man prepared for the hit.

The jutsu hit the ribcage right in the center. The white-haired man felt a gigantic force all through his body. The only reason he didn't fall backwards was because of the two clones holding him in place.

Fortunately enough, his bones served their purpose. The ribs fissured but stayed in place, holding the ball of chakra away from his stomach.

Kimimaro was telling himself how amazing that Rasengan was, when he felt another killing intent coming from behind. This time he couldn't send out any bones; the attack was too sudden.

Another Naruto had appeared above him, with yet another Rasengan. It hit directly into the back of his skull. The force made his head bow. The clones retraining him had done their job, and were called back into nonexistence. With nothing to hold him up, Kimimaro fell face first into the ground, the Rasengan still biting the back of his head. The jutsu retreated after a few more seconds. The chakra receded into Naruto's hand and out of sight; only a tingling sensation could be felt in his palm.

The whiskered Kyuubi container stepped back to admire his work. He was panting, his chest and arm were still bleeding but he felt satisfied. A good deal of his chakra was consumed in that attack but that didn't matter anymore; the man was dead.

Some kind of white powder was rising into the air just above the dead man's head. Naruto cocked an eyebrow. For an attack of that magnitude, he was sure at least half his head should be pulverized, but looking closer into the man's head, only the skin had been torn apart.

'_He couldn't possibly survive that!' _He told himself, but Kimimaro raising his and firing tiny bones from his fingertips proved him wrong.

Caught off guard, the blond only had time to step to the side, not quite dodging the projectiles and receiving three of them right into his shoulder. Those mini-bones were so strong they penetrated muscle and bone. A painful moment later, the bones continued its way out of Naruto's body and into the forest.

This time Naruto did scream. His scapula had been perforated and he thought he would pass out from the pain. The blond shinobi fell to his knees, clutching the dark holes in his shoulder.

"You are the first person to be so close in killing me." Kimimaro said with a soft voice as he stood up slowly. Naruto's gurgles of pain filled the silence in the canopy. The man made his way towards the boy leisurely as he continued to speak. "If you had been a little bit faster you could have melted my brain down."

Through half-lidded eyes, the blond could see a white skull painted with blood, skin and hair. The sickly looking man had managed to harden his skull to withstand the Rasengan.

The smell of burning chakra, which had been impregnating the whole clearing slowly, intensified. It reached its peak, and attracted both Kimimaro's and Naruto's attention to Sasuke's container. The sickly man smiled soberly, looking at the paper seals placed on the barrel burning into the atmosphere.

"Finally." He whispered. _'Now that he's out, he can reach Orochimaru's lair while I take care of him.' _His green, dull eyes wondered towards the way-too-young chuunin kneeling in front of him. His eyes were drawn to the exploding barrel. He didn't blink even as small pieces of wood brushed passed his face. He was trying to make out the figure engulfed in dark, purple haze.

'_What is that?' _Naruto asked himself, unable to recognize the winged figure standing where the barrel had been. The pain he had been feeling was pushed to the back of his mind, Sasuke occupying all his current thoughts.

The dark figured stirred. It's back was facing the two fighting shinobi. What look like wings morphed back into Sasuke's back; the grey color on the skin receding into Sasuke's usual pale complexion. Finally, Sasuke stood as he always had, but this time the chakra bottled inside of him was so much it still could be smelled if you focused carefully.

"Sasuke." Naruto spoke, forgetting all about the transformation his friend had undergone and only looking at the crest on his blue shirt. His voice was beginning to fill with joy. "Sasuke! Good to have you back, man! Let's finish this and go back home!" Naruto felt himself smiling. Now that his teammate was fine, they could beat Kimimaro easily. Naruto wouldn't have to use the Kyuubi's chakra this time.

At the mention of his name, the young Uchiha turned his face 45°; enough to see with the corner of his eye the scene behind him. His eyes filled with ecstasy were slowly growing cold as he regarded the blond.

"There will be a servant waiting for you a few miles north from the Valley of The End." Kimimaro said calmly. "He'll guide you to Orochimaru."

"Yeah right." The blond wanted to laugh. Like Sasuke would go willingly towards the snake bastard, the one who almost kill their team. His smile quickly faltered as he saw the survivor of the Uchiha massacre smirk at him. Then he ran away in Oto's direction, as he started to laugh.

"Wait! What are you doi-" His words died in his mouth as Kimimaro kicked him on the chin.

"You are a dangerous person to Orochimaru-sama." The grey-haired man affirmed. The blond dropped to the ground with a grunt, face facing the sky. The green-eyed man stomped his foot on Naruto's injured shoulder, earning a loud scream from the boy. "I'm afraid I can't let you live."

The Uzumaki was in shock. He was still remembering the dark look and cold smirk Sasuke had granted him. _'He can't…' _He couldn't even think straight. Why would Sasuke throw everything to the crapper just to go to that sadist?

Naruto barely noticed how Kimimaro lifted his feet; a bone spike growing out of the sole of his feet. _'I don't get it…' _The blond was still thinking. Kimimaro pulled his feet higher and then dropped mercilessly right onto Naruto's heart. The blond blinked, expecting the pain to fill him again.

It didn't come.

What did come, was the sound sand being crush under the man's feet. His blue eyes opened as he felt himself being dragged from his spot on the ground backwards.

Sand had between Kimimaro's killing stroke and the boy, preventing him to penetrate his heart. Naruto raised his head to look at the person standing behind them, not believing his eyes.

"I wouldn't have thought I would be so happy to see you." Naruto confessed, as the sand set him on the grass gently.

The auburn haired boy regarded him with a nod. Naruto started to stand up gingerly. Gaara offered him a hand and the blond took it, pulling himself upwards with a grunt.

"You're bleeding." Stated the holder of the Shukaku blankly. Naruto ignored his comment.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto spoke the question that was plaguing his mind. The boy looked different with his new clothes.

"My siblings and me were sent to honor Suna's new treaty with Konoha as allied nations." Responded Gaara, locking his eyes with Kimimaro's. "Temari plans to be the new ambassador of Suna."

"Midway on our journey we received a message from the current Hokage. She said you will be needing help. Temari and Kankurou are looking after your teammates."

Naruto made a mental note to thank Tsunade. _'You just saved this mission.' _Thought the blond, looking at Gaara.

"Thanks." The blond muttered sincerely.

"I'll take care of him and then go after Sasuke." The green-eyed boy said, stepping towards Kimimaro.

"I'll take care of Sasuke." Naruto said firmly, his determination coming back.

"You're hurt." Reminded Gaara.

"I haven't used all my power yet."

"I'll back you up after I'm done with him, then."

Naruto was surprised at Gaara's intention to help him.

"No. I'm sure the rest need help more than I do." Replied the blue-eyed kid. "Aid them."

The Suna prodigy looked at Naruto pensively for a moment, then nodded.

"Cover me?" Naruto asked as he set in motion towards the path Sasuke had taken. His shoulder's wounds were bleeding profusely as he ran.

Kimimaro fired more bones at him, but Gaara's sand absorbed the finger-bullets.

"I'm your opponent now." He said coolly.

Kimimaro locked his green, dying eyes with Gaara's.

* * *

The Uchiha breathed deeply while he stood at the top of the statue's head – the evening air had never smelled so sweet to him.

It was there, within him. The power he had always dreamed of. He had found it inside that barrel and he'd never let go. With that chakra, Itachi's death was within his reach. He had been surprised to see Naruto pursuing him to such lengths, but Sasuke was glad he did.

But he wanted to test his new found energy – That's why he sat down patiently, a light smile on his lips, waiting for his former teammate to arrive.

Naruto would come; Sasuke was sure of it. The blond was too stubborn for his own good and he knew that whichever obstacle stood between him and his goal, he would beat it.

'_That stubbornness is gonna get you killed, Naruto.' _Sasuke thought good humored. _'I'm gonna make sure of it.' _

Sasuke closed his eyes to try and sense Naruto's chakra. He blocked the sound of the waterfall besides him and enhanced his senses.

Sasuke felt him approaching quickly and grinned. His growing excitement made his new reserve of chakra spike wildly, activating the first stage of the curse seal. The seal now felt welcomed in his body – embracing warmth settled over him.

Finally, Naruto appeared from within the forest, his head darting upwards in search of Sasuke. He feared the dark-haired boy had already crossed the border when he found a tiny, blue figure on top of Madara's stone head.

Sasuke heard Naruto's voice screaming for him to come down and go back. The Uchiha did come down, darting from his spot towards Naruto with his hands dancing rapidly with signs.

Naruto's blue orbs grew wider in alarm. Sasuke inhaled deeply, gathering chakra on his stomach. Naruto was still begging him to stop and listen.

'_This I'm going to enjoy.' _A smug smile placed itself on his pale face.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Another chapter done! **

**Please review to let me know what you think.**

**Take care.**

** - Patty**


	32. Chapter 32

**NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Yes! I managed to complete this one before Christmas! Longest yet! **

**Thanks to everyone who has liked/faved/reviewed this story. I'm glad to spend yet another year writing this fanfic. Gotta say, this chapter is one of my favorites… you'll see why!**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 32

"When is Neji-niisan coming back?"

Hinata looked up from the scroll she was reading, regarding a series of tips to enhance your chakra's reach without losing its density. It belonged to the Hyuuga library, where she could now borrow all the books and scrolls she wanted.

She was sitting on the stairs leading to the north garden, a cup of tea next to her. The sun had started to descend and it wouldn't be long before it hid behind the mountains surrounding the village. It was getting chilly.

"I don't know, Hanabi-chan." The older sister answered gently. She could see her sibling was starting to get impatient with his absence. "Soon." She said in a low voice, trying to soothe her impatience. _'I hope.'_

Grunting, Hanabi sat down heavily next to her.

"I wanted to see him train." she complained loudly. "What is his mission about, anyway?"

"You know I can't tell you that. It's classified." The short-haired girl took the smoking cup on her hands.

"If it's classified, how do you know what it is about?" Hanabi narrowed her pupil-less eyes.

"I was there when he was briefed on the mission." Hinata took the cup to her lips and sipped.

"By that baka, right?" Hanabi frowned at her, accusingly. She had overheard two guards talking about a blond-haired boy bursting into the mansion, looking for Neji. Since Naruto wasn't around, she could call him whatever she wanted.

"Don't call him that." Sighed Hinata. Her sister was still resenting Naruto's behavior towards her.

"Sorry..." Said the Hyuuga, not sounding sorry at all. "Should I say: N-Naruto-kun?" she stuttered much like her sister did, a sly smile on her face, while she pushed both her index fingers together.

Hinata tried to frown, but her embarrassment took the best of her. She blushed.

"Hanabi-chan... stop that, please."

Hanabi smiled, but it didn't last long. She looked at the roses planted not too far from her.

"I miss him." The girl complained out loud. Hinata knew that the subject didn't include her crush anymore.

"I know." The older sister said empathically. "He'll be back, don't worry."

"I'm not worried." Corrected Hanabi rapidly, turning her head to her sister. "He's so strong!"

Silence placed itself between the two girls for a moment. Hanabi looked timidly at Hinata,

"…Are you?" She asked, her voice wavering a bit. Hinata looked at her lap.

Yes she was. Ever since Naruto left with her cousin that morning, Hinata had a cold feeling on her middle. She tried to kill that unnerving sensation by occupying herself with house chores and relaxing in all the ways she found possible.

After Neji ran off, Hiashi decided he could spend his time and attention with her, and so they trained. It was the first time in years that Hinata had spent so much time with her father, and that delighted her to no end, but the thought of her precious ones facing off Orochimaru's men still plagued her mind.

Not even after taking a long bath, helping out with the groceries for lunch, gardening, reading or drinking tea eased her feelings. Why was she thinking something bad was going to happen? There was Neji, genius to the unique Hyuuga clan, genin of the year and personally trained by the clan leader ever since the invasion of the village.

And there was Naruto, chuunin, owner of exceptional strength and speed, capable of performing jounin level jutsus and… something else. She would've dwelled more on the last part but her thoughts ran back to her anxiousness she tried hard to hide from her sister, who was looking at her with weird eyes.

She suddenly remembered the question being asked and shook her head.

"I'm sure they are capable of anything. We'll just have to wait until they get back." She responded with confidence.

Hinata decided to check upon Sakura, who must be having a hard time right now. She considered hanging around the hospital after she visited the pink-haired girl, but then shook her head. _'I'm worrying way too much.' _

* * *

Having no other alternative but to move, Gaara leapt backwards, trying to reenter the sand surface he had created using the dirt and other elements underground. But Kimimaro, now black-skinned, was faster than him and connected his spiked knuckles on his face.

Gaara didn't have time to marvel on the man's speed, because here he came again, this time ready to bring down the tail he had grown from his back on him. The redhead summoned more sand from the ground, placing it between the tail and his neck. The moment the tail entered the sand, Gaara clenched both his fists with all the strength he ad, hardening the mixed sand and making it impossible for the older shinobi to escape. Not taking any chances, the Shukaku jailer brought forwards his hands, gathering the sand from the clearing and forming a wall around Kimimaro.

"Your friend is going to die." Kimimaro called, once he saw he was about to lose. His yellow irises placed upon Gaara's direction. He knew he could hear him all too well.

"If you knew him, you wouldn't be saying that." The green-eyed boy replied from behind the wall.

"I don't know him, you're right." Said Orochimaru's follower. Since Gaara didn't speak, he continued. "But the Uchiha boy is stronger than me now that he can fully use the seal; that should be enough to crush that blond kid."

Gaara was getting impatient; he looked upwards towards the gathering sand. _'Few more seconds.'_

"Here's something you don't know." Kimimaro coughed. Gaara was sure blood came out of his mouth. "Orochimaru-sama made me undergo an operation years ago, so that my attacks could be even more deadly…"

"He injected my bones with a combination of snake poison and made me drink the antidote for three months, so I could bear with the poison – ."

Gaara gritted his teeth. It was time to finish this.

"– In other words, even if Sasuke-kun isn't able to kill that boy, the poison will. He should be dead right now." Another set of coughs. "I just thought is the least I could do, since you were able to defeat me, Sabaku no Gaara."

"I'm going to crush all your bones." Gaara declared with his raspy voice, calling forward his chakra and dropping tons of sand on Kimimaro's destroyed head.

A full minute had to pass before all the sand could reach the ground. Kimimaro's gurgles and screams were muffled by the heavy material entering his mouth and lungs.

Gaara watched mercilessly. He had noticed that Kimimaro's last attack had penetrated his sand armor, but it didn't matter, since this fight was almost over.

"Sand Coffin." Gaara whispered, voice strained with tiredness. Immediately, all the sand grains hurdled closer together, until there was just a solid, hard surface in front of Gaara.

Gaara stood tall, watching the mould carefully. Once he was sure it was over he let weakness wash over him and fell on his knees, gasping for air.

'_I can't stand up yet.' _He tried to stand up but his knees shook with effort. _'I need to rest for a moment, then…' _

"_I'm sure the rest need help more than I do. Aid them." _Naruto seemed really serious when he said that, Gaara recalled. He would surely be mad if he went to help him.

Explosions and cries echoed from within the forest. The fight wasn't yet won and there were still others that needed support.

"Naruto won't die." He assured, lifting himself up and turning around to where he came from. Poison worked differently on jinchurikis. He should know, he had been poisoned numerous times when he was younger by order of his father. It took longer to take effect and once it did, the bijuu's chakra on their system would fight against it.

But then again, Orochimaru was the lord of snakes, and the blend of different poisons could really damage Naruto's insides.

Gaara shook his head.

"He won't die." The auburn haired boy repeated, leaving the clearing. "He's a survivor."

* * *

Naruto could barely escape his attacks, much less try to hit him.

Sasuke was in a trance, where his ears wouldn't listen and his mouth would only produce chuckles every time Naruto tried to talk to him. He had been surprised when Sasuke took out his Konoha headband from his pouch.

"Last time you didn't want to fight me because I wasn't wearing this." The dark-haired boy tightened the cloth around his forehead, lifting his bangs over his red-eyes. "You don't have any excuse now, Naruto. Now fight me!"

Half-an-hour had pass and Naruto felt himself growing weaker and more discouraged as he failed to reach Sasuke's reason. His breathing had become so labored that he needed to place half his attention on trying to breathe, which meant even less attention to fight. He no longer tried to talk to Sasuke; he needed to save his breath. He could barely feel anything on his chest and shoulder, where Kimimaro had managed to get him; the projectile wounds were still leaking, but he didn't mind that. Not even when Sasuke managed to kick him on the chest could he feel any pain; a dull, cold sensation had placed itself there instead.

The blond was worried. This wasn't going as he thought it would. He had imagined himself beating Sasuke up and carrying him back towards Konoha, the Uchiha muttering a series of apologies and promises to never be so stupid again…

But reality crashed in.

Uchiha Sasuke was wiping him out. Even though his eyes seemed demented, he was very much alert and rational. He even used his skills with the flammable wires he carried to pin Naruto down and shower him with fireballs. The blond had to use brute strength to snap the wires and dive into the river.

The wires left deep gashes around his arms, face and legs. He seemed to be bleeding everywhere; blood dripped from his hands and feet. He could barely see anything since one of Sasuke's punches tore his eyebrow open and a curtain of red filled his right eye. That _did _hurt.

'_At this pace…'_

Sasuke dived again. He had gotten rid of his sharp utensils and had recurred to his fists, he seemed really angry for some reason.

'_I'm gonna fail this mission.'_

Sasuke had cornered him into a rock wall. Naruto tried to jump away but at that moment his knees and legs finally betrayed him. They buckled, but a hand tugging at his vest and lifting him up didn't let him fall down.

'_I'm gonna fail Sakura, Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei… even you Sasuke.'_

"I'm sick of waiting." Sasuke exclaimed, showing his canines and spitting on his face as he talked. The curse mark was starting to take its toll on him; he could felt his muscles straining at every movement he made. "Show it to me!"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned, but was quickly rewarded with Sasuke's knuckles on his face. Blood ran freely from his nose but, oddly enough, Naruto could barely feel any pain. It was as if his mind as slowly disconnecting with his body.

"I wanted to see the real deal." Growled the genius. Naruto frowned.

"What-"

"The Kyuubi's power!" spat Sasuke, punching the rock beside the blond's head. It cracked easily.

Naruto's eyes widened. His mind was at a loss. _'It's impossible! He couldn't have possibly figured that out!'_

"I got that from Sakura." The boy had started to smile, enjoying the look on Naruto's face. "I couldn't believe it at first but, once you have time to think it over, it fits."

"Sakura, she… she wouldn't have! What did you do to her?" Naruto's mind was starting to get foggy but this new outrage kept him conscious.

"She wouldn't? I didn't even have to ask! She told me everything, you little cheater!" Sasuke laughed at the look of astonishment on Naruto's face.

"You liar!" Naruto wrapped his hand around Sasuke's arm but his grip was much too weak. Sasuke quickly slapped him across the face.

"I even rewarded her for that, did she not tell you? I'm sure that she wanted to kiss me all this time. Now that I finally have, she must be able to get over me."

"You… you what?" The blond murmured, his voice trembling. She had tore out her own hair and cried her heart out to him, begging for Sasuke to come back. He had kissed her, then betrayed her… no wonder why she was in such a delicate state.

The raven-haired boy, seeing Naruto's turmoil started to smile.

"Oh." He mused, very much entertained. "Does that make you mad? I never would've thought _that. _You seemed so detached from her, almost downright cruel. But, if I recall correctly, you used to like her didn't you?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Naruto looked sharply at his Sharingan eyes.

"You're so indecisive, Naruto." Sasuke chuckled cruelly. "You really do have bad taste in women. Who is it really? Sakura? Or that useless Hyuuga?"

"Shut up." Ordered the blond, starting to feel the hair on the back of his neck tingle. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I? You seem to fall for any girl that deigns herself to talk to you." He mocked. Naruto clenched his fists. "But what can you expect from someone who harbors a demon? That's the reason every villager hates you, right? You should've left the village years ago, but still here you are… working for Konoha."

"Not everyone hates me." The whiskered boy growled, eyes boring into Sasuke's Sharingan.

"I think they do. But they've just gotten used to you roaming around them, trying to please them in any way you can. You're fighting a lost battle, Naruto."

His sneer turned into a frown as soon as he saw red chakra starting to swirl from Naruto's skin.

"I'm gonna give you a taste of the red chakra." Declared the blond, feeling how his wounds started to heal and his senses could be called normal again. Sasuke gave him enough motivation to call forward what he could control of the fox's chakra. "But just a bit, so you don't die. Afterwards you're gonna apologize to Sakura."

Sasuke smirked, letting go of Naruto and jumping backwards.

"If you don't try to kill me, you're never going to defeat me."

Naruto only bared his teeth. The real fight was about to start.

* * *

"I'm not letting you fight her alone." He called angrily to Temari, standing in front of him. She didn't turn her head to answer; her attention was fully centered on the grotesque-looking woman ahead of her. "I shouldn't even have let you help me at all!"

"You have no chakra, you have no choice." The foreign beauty replied, irked by his macho attitude. "Besides, the sun is already down. I'm sure you can't use your shadow technique in the dark."

Shikamaru huffed at her logic. She was right, with no sunlight there couldn't be any shadows. It was almost full dark and he hadn't heard of any of his comrades.

"I can still-"

"Why don't you go back and help out your friends." This time she did turn, a sad look on her face. "You could hear out their last wish…"

Pure panic settled on his chest. His eyes grew wide.

"What are you…"

"Just go. See for yourself." She waved her enormous fan one more time, cutting the trees in front of her.

Now that his interest was diverted from his previous fight, the Nara dashed through the forest, this time running on the ground. His broken finger was in agony but he pushed the pain aside; he was approaching the place where he left Chouji to fight.

"Oh no…" his voice wavered at the sight of his childhood friend, now oddly thin, lying face down on the ground. He rushed towards him and turned his body to look at his face. It was terribly pale.

"Chouji!" He screamed, but the boy didn't respond. He looked around and found the body of the other sound-nin, laying in a crater the form of Chouji's overgrown body. Shikamaru then turned his attention again to his friend. Not too far away from them, he saw the container Chouji used to place his family pills. They were empty.

'_Kami, he used _that._' _He thought, dread filling his guts.

"You can't die." He said, a panic tone on his voice. The chuunin tried to find a pulse and he did, although very faint. He had been lying there with him for only two minutes when his heart stopped working. Shikamaru paled.

For five full minutes Shikamaru performed CPR on the Akimichi, shouting his name and dropping tears on his tattooed face. The gods must have heard his silent prayers because the Akimichi's kind heart responded to the treatment.

Shikamaru was crying in gratitude when a voice startled him.

"They will die if they aren't treated soon."

Shikamaru cleared his tears with his shoulder and stood up rapidly. The darkness made it hard to see but he could distinguish the gourd on the back of the figure.

"Gaara." He muttered, glad that it wasn't another enemy. "What do you mean by 'they'?"

Once the ninja from Sand was close enough, he could see that trailing behind him, was a floating surface of sand carrying another person. He had long hair.

"That's Neji!" breathed the mission leader running towards him. "Oh my god…"

There wasn't an inch on his shirt that wasn't covered with blood. He, too, was unconscious.

"What is on his chest?" asked a shaken Shikamaru, pointing to a patch of clear substance on top of Neji's heart.

"Some of my sand. It's there to stop the blood flow, but the wound it's too big and close to his heart. This one is the biggest and it goes through his chest. There are a few others on his back but not near as fatal." Gaara said monotonously, his arms crossed. "At least he killed his opponent."

Shikamaru lowered his head and clenched his fists. He didn't speak for a long time.

"What about the others?" His voice was very weak.

"Naruto went after Sasuke. I killed one of the ninjas. Kankurou went after your other teammate. It shouldn't be long before he comes with him."

The pineapple-haired boy nodded, then fell to his knees.

'_We are one day away from Konoha. That means one day away from an hospital. Chouji and Neji need immediate medical attention, they…' _He punched the ground under his knees. _'They don't have any chance. Oh, Kami-sama…' _

"This is my fault… I couldn't…" Shikamaru murmured softly, fresh tears running down his face.

"If we head that way we can intercept the reinforcements more quickly." Gaara stated quietly, looking over at Shikamaru's form.

"What?" he sniffed, looking Gaara in the eye. The sand-nin only turned his head to the side.

"I sense a large party coming this way. I can only assume they are your reinforcements. There's a good chance there are medics with them."

* * *

'_Now THIS feels about right!' _

Naruto dealt a round house kick to Sasuke's now bloody face. The force was such that the Uchiha's back broke into a boulder and continued towards the river, his body disappearing into the water.

In the dark you could only see Naruto' s red glowing chakra moving around, over the surface of the river.

'_You deserved that, Sasuke.' _Proclaimed Naruto each time a part of his body connected with Sasuke's. He summoned two clones before Sasuke could rise from the water.

The dark-haired boy emerged, gasping for air and wearing a spectacular bruise on the left side of his face.

'_Damn it.' _Sasuke thought, spitting blood on the water and starting to get up. _'He's stronger than I imagined… that was the strength that defeated Shukaku…' _

'_I may have to use-'_

"You're getting slow." Stated a Naruto clone with a ferous smirk, seizing him by the right arm. Before Sasuke could do anything, another one jumped in front of him and seized him by the other arm.

It's not that he was getting slower. As soon as the whiskered boy activated his red chakra his speed was incredible, as well as the force of his attacks. The wounds on Naruto's person had started to heal rapidly, too.

'_Such incredible chakra.' _Admitted the red-eyed Uchiha. _'If I hadn't accepted the curse seal I would have never stand a chance against him.' _

"Are you coming back with me now?" asked the real one, walking slowly towards him. "Or should I need to 'convince' you a bit more?"

Sasuke bared his teeth. The dark markings were still lingering on his face and body.

"That village is dead to me." Exclaimed the young Uchiha, blood glistening on his lips.

The blond frowned deeply. How could a person change so much in such a small period of time? His right fist shot out to Sasuke's middle.

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!" each time he said one word he delivered a punch. Three of his ribs broke instantly. Sasuke's mouth had blood running down its sides and onto his shirt.

"Even if I have to break both your legs and arms… I'm gonna take you home!" The Kyuubi container yelled firmly, tapping the headband over Sasuke's head with one finger.

Sasuke gasped loudly, coughing a couple of times and emitting low groans of pain. Sensing his strength was on his limit, Naruto dispelled his clones. The Sharingan user fell to his hands and knees; he still had some chakra left to keep himself over the water.

"I have… no home." He gasped, exhausted. Drops of blood mixed themselves with the water. "Not since my family died years ago!"

Something wasn't right, the golden haired boy sensed. Sasuke's gasps had receded completely as he spoke and an ominous presence was starting to form right in front of him.

'_What else can he do? He's finished.' _Naruto thought for himself. But Sasuke seemed to disagree. Naruto couldn't see his face but, under the red light, his arms had changed color; they were now a dark-blue. Sasuke's hair had started to grow, along with Naruto's concern.

Before anything else could happen, the blond pushed all his chakra to his right fist and raised it, ready to strike his back and break it so he could finally take him back. He attacked, but a hard material had grown out of Sasuke's back and, amazingly, blocked his hit.

"What the hell…" said the blond. He marveled at the hand-shaped wings that had protruded from his friend's body. Suddenly, one of those hands shot out so quickly that it hit Naruto's body dead on, sending it skipping on the river and into the rock-wall.

'_Shit.' _he cursed, holding his left side. He wouldn't be surprised if that hit had broken one of his ribs.

"So this is the final form of the curse seal." The whiskered boy raised his head at Sasuke's voice. He wore a smug smile, both arms on his hips.

"Tell me, Naruto…" he said, flapping his 'wings' in front of him so he could see them for himself. He raised from the water surface, each time higher and higher, until he landed on top of Madara's statue belt . "Do you think if I stayed in Konoha I would reach this kind of power?"

"That power is poisoning your soul!" replied the chuunin, incorporating and looking back at Sasuke. "That snake has turned you into an abomination!"

"Look who's talking!" replied Sasuke back.

"If you go to Orochimaru, he will steal your body. Don't you care about that?"

"I only care about killing my brother." Sasuke said coldly. "Whatever brings me closer to my goal, I'll do it!"

"Even if you kill him… You won't have anywhere to go back to." Yelled back the blond angrily. "I won't stand still as you throw your life away, Sasuke!"

The boy frowned at Naruto's words. "You were a good friend, Naruto, but where I am going I don't need any of that shit. You're dead to me now."

"Sasuke…"

"I won't go back. If you want to stop me you'll have to kill me. Let's make this our last encounter." Said Sasuke seriously, sliding into a fighting stance and holding his right wrist with his left hand.

"I won't-"

"Only one of us will outlive this battle. I'm coming with my full strength and you better do the same."

"You just said I was your friend!" the blond yelled, his face grimacing at the turn of events. "Why would you want kill me?"

"I don't need more obstacles. And right now that's just what you are." Replied Sasuke, his hand starting to glow. "I'm gonna test my new power with you."

The low humming of singing birds was starting to be heard over the sound of the waterfall.

"Prepare yourself, Naruto. Let's finish what we started on the hospital roof. I'm putting all my remaining power in this!" Flashes of dark chakra lightened his dark face. The blond saw for the first time a black cross tattooed over his nose.

The blond stared with wide eyes at Sasuke's glowing hand; he could sense the energy coming off it and couldn't believe the Uchiha still had so much power left. _'He really _is _pouring down all his strength in his Chidori.' _Bits of lighting were dancing crazily around his arm, some going astray and shattering rocks nearby.

'_I don't want to die… but I don't want to kill him either.' _Naruto thought sadly, as he formed the Rasengan on his right hand. He looked intently at the forming Chidori; unlike the one he saw on the rooftop back at Konoha, the one on his hand wasn't blue but a dark, dirty color.

They say chakra was the color of one's soul, and his was almost black. _'I need to put my whole power in this or his Chidori will break through my Rasengan.' _

"Ready, Naruto?" Sasuke called from above, his voice could barely be heard; thousands of singing birds echoed along the waterfall.

Naruto looked down at his hand. It turned out his Rasengan was also a different color; this one was red.

'_Red… the color of blood.' _The blond thought ominously, the sphere dancing on his hand. Sasuke jumped from his perch and soared through the air towards the blond. He looked up. _'I won't let Orochimaru have your body.' _Thought the blond firmly, jumping into the air and encountering Sasuke in mid air.

'_If killing you is the only way to stop you I'll…' _Naruto thought, as both attacks hit each other. It seemed they were being enclosed in an energy sphere. He paid no attention to that; he was busy looking at Sasuke's grinning face. Sasuke was focused on his chest, his intention was clear; something that made Naruto's eyes water. The blond felt his determination waver.

'_You need to kill him!' _he shouted in his mind, convincing himself of the hard truth. _'He can't escape from the village. He'll be a danger not only to himself but to everybody else if he reaches Orochimaru.' _

His arm was throbbing by the sheer force of the shock. Both techniques were approaching their breaking points. Naruto clenched his teeth together.

'_We are friends. I wanted you to come back, to eat ramen with me. I wanted you to be there for my birthday, to keep doing missions with you…'_

Naruto didn't know if he was thinking or speaking those words, but Sasuke seemed to be hearing and laughing at him.

'_I'm gonna kill you, you hear? It's come to this, so I'm sorry. I'm gonna!'_

The blond opened his mouth and screamed long and hard, tears running down his face, making his vision blurry. But no matter what he told himself on his mind, his body seemed to think different. His hand started to weaken, loosing focus on his Rasengan.

"**What are you doing?! You're going to get us both killed!" **Kyuubi sounded worried and distant. It had been a long time since he heard that voice. It was weak, but it was there. **"He's aiming at your heart!"**

'_Even the fox is rooting on me! So why can't I?!' _His jutsu started to disappear. Now he saw Sasuke's Chidori clearly, it's light shining over his Rasengan.

"**You selfish infant! Don't!" **

"_It seems we're both gonna go down. I just can't bring myself to kill him." _

Sasuke's Chidori was still running. Seeing his chance, the dark-skinned Sasuke pushed his arm further, a victorious smirk on his face. The Uchiha's attack was effective and fatal; his dark hand, adorned with long nails followed their path through the Uzumaki's chest, looking for his heart.

'_I win.' _The Uchiha's smile said.

Before he lost consciousness, the blond saw a new tomoe form around Sasuke's Sharingan. It now had three swirling dots.

"Good for you." Whispered Naruto through a mouthful of blood.

He fell.

* * *

"Idiot, you're overexerting yourself!" Temari jumped down to the branch Shikamaru had fallen at. "You won't be able to catch up with them before we get to Konoha. Why don't you take a break?"

Too tired and busy panting, the pineapple-haired boy shook his head twice. He had the feeling he was going to puke any time now.

"I…" he coughed, as he tried to stand back up. Kankurou stopped in his branch and looked at the pair. He waited for them to catch up.

One of his legs, too tired and beaten, failed him as he got up. If it wasn't for Temari grabbing his arm, he would have fallen on his face again.

"I need to see how my team is doing. Chouji and everyone else." The lazy ninja finally managed to say, after a good while of breathing deeply.

Kankurou had finally appeared with Kiba and Akamaru, just a few minutes after they had encountered the medical rescue team. Kakashi was with them, and he seemed extremely tensed. He just stayed long enough to ask Shikamaru where his students had gone, then moved on, a pug leading his way.

The Inuzuka was drifting in and out of consciousness. The brunette had a wide gash on his lower belly and only asked about Akamaru. He called his name constantly, not minding the medics advising him not to talk, but the pup wouldn't respond. Another medic had the dog in his arms. The male Suna brother had told them Akamaru was dead but with a chakra infusion by one of the doctors he was breathing again, although barely.

Chouji and Neji were being carried on a stretcher each.

After four hours or so trying to keep up Shikamaru had finally tripped and could not get up.

"Are they still alive?" he breathed laboriously, turning to the girl pulling at his arm and placing it around his shoulders.

"We will know once we get there." She answered sternly, although she was worried about him. Normally, that boy would protest at her helping him but his mental state only served him to think about his friends.

Suddenly a gush of wind blew at their faces. For a brief moment they thought it was the flute woman again, revived from the dead and trying to kill them, but from the corner of their eyes they could see Kakashi's white hair and green vest carrying a bloody lump on his back. Then he was gone through the trees.

"What was…" Kankurou murmured, trying to make sense of what he saw.

"Naruto." Replied Shikamaru, trying to walk but Temari held him in place. "That was Naruto!"

"Oh Kami!" exhaled the blue-eyed girl, horrified. Her eyes were drawn to a few drops of blood that had landed on top of a branch. "His back… it was…"

"This isn't happening." Groaned Shikamaru miserably, collapsing to his knees again, this time taking Temari down with him. "Kami, this isn't happening…"

"There's nothing you can do." She said, trying to look at him but he was facing the ground. "We're halfway there."

Nothing else came to mind, so she just looked at her brother. He nodded and approached them; taking Shikamaru's other arm upon himself.

"Gaara is not going to like this." The puppet master said gravely.

* * *

"What are you proposing?" The Inuzuka demanded from the other side of the table, her nostrils widening and eyes narrowing. "He is a traitor! He needs to be treated like one!"

The elder ignored Tsume's tone, already being accustomed to her way of speaking.

"The base of Konoha's strength and prominence are its elite clans." Homura explained patiently. The eyes of the council were on him. "One of the most important families the village has had the privilege to house is the Uchiha family. We need to fight for the last member of said clan. If there's a chance, however small, to have Uchiha Sasuke back in the future, we'll have to be ready for him."

"His escaped almost cost us five of our most promising shinobi." Inoichi piped up from his seat between Choza and Shikaku, who were silent but staring coldly at the oldest member of the Council. "Not to mention that he was very close to killing a chuunin."

"Some chuunin…" whispered scornfully Koharu on her former teammate's ear. The evening sun could be seen from the pair of windows placed at both ends of the meeting table.

"There's no solid evidence that the kid was doing so on his own free will." Replied the older shinobi, adjusting his glasses.

"I believe the hole on Uzumaki's chest accounts as evidence. We can always ask him what happened once he's awake." The grave voice of Hyuuga Hiashi claimed, looking carefully at both the elders.

"For all we know, Orochimaru could have been controlling him with the curse mark." Koharu ignored Hiashi's contribution; something only a councilmember could do without fearing deadly retributions by hand of the Hyuuga. Hiashi's eyebrows knitted together the tiniest bit.

"Konoha can't classify him as a missing-nin without solid evidence." Koharu turned her head to the end of the table, where Tsunade was sitting; listening closely with her eyes closed.

"Tsunade-sama, you haven't said a word yet." Prodded the huge Akimichi, looking at the blond.

She opened her tired eyes.

"I will take into account Hiashi's advice so we can reach a verdict."

Hiashi nodded his head curtly. Koharu and Homura glared at her.

'_Although no amount of prove is going to make them change their minds.' _The Hokage thought.

"Let's accommodate another meeting next week. By that time I should already count with Naruto's testimony." The Hokage grabbed a couple of folders in front of her. "The exact date and time will be notified to you with a messenger. Thank you for your time." She then stood up, signalizing the end of the meeting.

Scurrying out of the well lit room before any other complaints could be heard, the Hokage made her way down the stairs spiral stairs. She had almost reached the front door of the Hokage building when someone called from behind.

She sighed and turned. Fortunately it wasn't her sensei's old teammates.

"Tsunade-sama, I was wondering when I could check on my son. Her mother is really worried you see?" Choza spoke hurriedly, his concern clear on his face. His two childhood friends were on his side.

"I told you this morning he was already stable, so there's nothing to be worried about." The woman answered, trying to sound as courteous as possible. She could understand the clan leader's worries but she was too busy to have these talks right now.

"Oh, yes you did, but still we were-"

"He shouldn't be away until tomorrow night at least." Tsunade interrupted, continuing on her way out of the building, the others following. "You can be there when he wakes up."

The big man started to wash her with 'thank you' s but she didn't pay any mind to them. Right now she should be preparing for Naruto's second surgery.

"Yours should be ready to leave." She spoke, turning to look at Shikaku without slowing down. He returned a half interested look. "Although you don't seem so interested about that."

Shikamaru had been the least wounded of the rescue team, with only a broken finger, bruises and some chakra depletion. Shizune forced him to stay hospitalized for a day just to make sure.

"I already talked to him last night to make sure he was alright. We'll be waiting for him at home." He assured casually.

After a few words the trio left her alone, going their own way. While she walked, Tsunade eyed the notes scribbled down on one of her folders. It had information regarding lung tissues and capillaries. The other one talked about the heart's structure and veins.

Fortunately, she had fixed the damaged veins that same day at 2 in the morning, just half-an-hour after Kakashi had rushed into the hospital wing with a pale Naruto on his back, dirtying the hospital floor with blood.

'_The worst has past, I think.' _She mused, looking closely at a copy the lung's anatomy. The big-busted woman hoped his would be his last surgery. She would patch up half his left lung, make sure it was working OK, and treat his shoulder and chest. After that she would check on the Hyuuga boy. She had left him for Shizune to heal.

The Suna siblings would be waiting at her office after that. Tsunade needed to thank them for their rapid response and contribution. They would also have to talk business about Suna and Konoha, but Tsunade felt more generous about their petitions after their saving Shikamaru's team.

Then she would go home and cry a bit. Maybe she could wash away the guilt she felt for being responsible for their state.

* * *

The nurse had dirty-brown hair and was reading a worn out magazine. There was an article that caught her attention; it was about middle level ninjas that could apply illusion techniques if you pay them, to make you look younger or more beautiful. The jutsus lasted one day and it was ideal for parties or social events.

'_Maybe for my uncle's Christmas party. I could change my hair color, or even my eyes!' _she played with the idea in her head, while munching on an old pencil, thinking about all the combinations she could put on herself. She smiled.

There was a grunt in front of her. She lowered the magazine.

"Huh, no one." She muttered, looking at the opposite side of the counter. To her right were a few lines of blue seats, but no one was sitting there right now. She was about to go back to read when another grunt was heard. This time it was followed by a hand reaching up and feeling the top of the polished-white marble.

She smiled and stood up to see the little person standing on the tips of his feet.

"Konohamaru-kun. How may I help you today?" Everyone in the village knew the name and face of the honorable grandson.

The boy, once he found himself noticed, showed the nurse a toothy grin and performed a salute with his right hand.

"Good morning, miss!" he exclaimed, earning a few looks from the other nurses and visitors that were walking near him. "I, the Great Konohamaru-sama, have come in search for the my one-and-only rival Naru-"

"Uzumaki-san isn't available for visits yet, Konohamaru-kun, I'm sorry. You should just come by other time." The nurse replied calmly. This was the third time this week that Konohamaru had come to look for the blond. This time he had come alone, but the other two occasions, the little boy had been surrounded by his two other young friends.

Konohamaru's words turned into a loud groan of disappointment that could be heard from every corner in that same floor. The older woman watched, bemused, Konohamaru's behavior. She prepared herself for his usual rant.

"I demand, as future shinobi AND Hokage of Konoha, to see Uzumaki Naruto this instant! I will not allow to be rejected yet agai-"

Once again, his honorable speech was cut off. Not by the nurse, but by another woman appearing behind him.

"Konohamaru-kun, you shouldn't be making this much noise. We're in a hospital after all." A sweet, gentle voice whispered behind him. Then a hand placed itself on top of his shoulder.

Both the nurse and boy looked at the Hyuuga heiress. The nurse smiled and thanked her mentally for hushing the boy down.

"But, Hinata-chan! It's been five days! I want to talk to him and see how he's doing. He must be feeling lonely." The boy whined, turning his body to address the taller girl.

"I also want to see h-him, but Tsunade-sama hasn't allowed it yet." She sympathized, smiling at the boy's intentions. "It wouldn't be prudent to visit him before he recovered his strength."

"B-But." His eyes started to shine with tears, his voice wavered. Hinata's expression turned to one of concern.

"Don't worry. Once he's strong enough we'll both go see him, yes?" She offered a gentle smile, kneeling a bit so she was on eye level with him. "In the meantime, why don't we go for some ice cream, hm? My treat?"

Konohamaru seemed to think about that for a few seconds, and then a small blush and a big grin placed themselves on his round face.

He nodded vehemently.

"You're the best, Hinata-chan!" he yelled, grabbing Hinata by her hand and guiding her towards the exit doors. She gave him a glowing smile. Although she didn't show it, Hinata was just as impatient as he was to see the whiskered chuunin.

* * *

Konoha's Hokage walked down the hospital's fifth floor hall, nodding at the greetings and formalities the other visitors and medics sent her. On her hands she held Uzumaki Naruto's last report, which had been handed to her by Shizune not two hours ago. According to the contents, the blond was once again able to breathe by himself, had woken up a three times yesterday night; between 11 P.M and 4 A.M, the first two babbling nonsense and the last one asking for someone to bring him ramen.

After that episode he went to sleep and awoke four hours later, lucid although somewhat disorientated.

It was now 1 P.M and Tsunade had summoned Naruto's sensei in front of his hospital room. She had assigned one for just him.

Surprisingly enough, Kakashi was there on time. The golden haired town leader frowned, thinking that the Hatake must be really concerned about this meeting. She also noted that the green-eyed kunoichi had assisted too.

They bowed once they saw her approach. She, once again, nodded and went for the door immediately, her eyes lingering on the pink-haired girl for one second, absorbing her sober face and now tidy hair.

Sakura was now recovered from her nervous breakdown, although hollow bags hung from under her eyes. Her sensei seemed to be composed but she could also note tiredness hiding behind his half-lidded eyes.

"I'm sorry but we need to speak to Naruto in private. If he is in condition to keep on seeing guests you may come." Informed the Hokage in a business-like fashion. Sakura agreed.

The two of them entered the room quietly, expecting Naruto to be asleep. He wasn't. In the middle of the well-lighted room, looking through the window at Senju's Park and watching how the kids ate ice cream and ran around playing tag with each other, was Naruto. Although he had five full days of sleep, the chuunin seemed to be even more tired than the other members of his team. His face was still kind of pale and dark shadows formed behind his blue eyes.

'_He looks exactly as Jiraiya did when we lost Orochimaru.' _Thought Tsunade, staring at the boy.

"Hey." Called Naruto softly, turning at them. Kakashi stepped forward, a smile already forming behind his mask.

"Hello there. You finally decided to wake up." He sat on the visitor's chair and clasped his hands together, offering a bright smile at Naruto. "How are you feeling?"

"Well… I can breathe now, so that's something." He said humorlessly. Tsunade frowned at his tone, but Kakashi didn't give up on his mood.

"I brought you something." The white-haired jounin said cheerfully, taking out a yellow card from his front pocket and handing it to his student. Naruto read it and his lips perked up a bit.

"An Ichiraku coupon. Thanks Kakashi-sensei. I now have two of those." Iruka had left him that and a 'get-well soon' red balloon. There were also seven other cards: one from Gaara and co, who had left two days ago to their own village, one from Lee, which was three pages long with jolly wishes and two drawings, one from Ino along with a flower arrangement, three from Konohamaru and his little friends, and one from Hinata promising to come by and visit him. That was all that he had received. Unlike the time he was hospitalized after Gaara's outrage, people weren't supposed to know he had been on a rescue mission, much less injured.

"Also…" Kakashi started fumbling with something inside his vest. Once Naruto saw what it was his teeth clenched together. The Hatake's mood had now become serious. "This was besides you, at the Valley of the End."

He handed it to him, but once he saw that Naruto couldn't move his left arm, he left it on top of his legs. The blond just stared at it for a long moment.

"I'm really sorry for not being there with you. I should have, you're my team after all." Said Kakashi apologetically. He looked at Naruto regretfully. "It's all my fault."

"No it wasn't. It was my responsibility, I had everything in me to beat him but in the end I just couldn't… I…"

"I fucked up, didn't I?" Naruto said after a minute of silence, sensing the guilt surfacing again. Sasuke's headband shone with the sunlight on top of the covers. The Uchiha, before leaving Naruto to die, had scratched the iron plate, leaving a scar right across the Konoha leaf symbol. Naruto was reminded of Itachi's own headband.

"You couldn't expect to have won after a full day of pursuit, holes down your chest and lethal poison running through your body." Tsunade spoke sternly for the first time, looking accusingly at her old necklace hanging down Naruto's robe.

"Poison?" the blond inquired.

"According to Gaara's report, the sound nin you fought against applied poison to you with his weapon. It was neutralized with the Kyuubi's chakra but once it receded, the substance continued to weaken your body." The woman explained, crossing her arms in front of her bust.

The blond looked down at his bandaged body. The slash down his chest was halfway healed, as well as the bullet holes on his shoulder. _'So that's why I felt numb all of a sudden.' _

"Still, the mission was a failure…" continued the blue-eyed kid, finding the strength to reach for the item with his right hand. He looked closely, finding traces of Sasuke's blood on the blue cloth.

"We cannot change the outcome. But you have to keep in mind that the mission could've ended up worse." Commented Tsunade. No one contradicted her words, but they still didn't lift anyone's mood.

"The reason we're here, Naruto, is to clarify what happened between you and Sasuke. We need to know all of the details." The grey-haired jounin spoke calmly, knowing it was a delicate subject, especially for the blond.

Naruto sighed deeply, closing his eyes and gripping the headband even tighter.

"You're not gonna like this…" he muttered, as he started to narrate the events that occurred when he finally caught up with the Uchiha, leaving out most of the conversation he had with him and the part where Sakura revealed his secret to Sasuke; that was private. As soon as he mentioned that he had embraced and awakened Orochimaru's curse seal, the blue-eyed boy saw Kakashi's eyes lower with disappointment.

"Are you sure about what happened to his Sharingan?" Kakashi inquired, clearly intrigued by the matter. "Wouldn't it be possible it was just a hallucination?"

"I saw what I saw." Confirmed Naruto, trying to lift himself up a bit, but failing from the pain coming from his body. Tsunade scolded him.

"This is serious." Said Kakashi to himself, but the blond overheard him.

"Why? What does it mean?" the blond asked, concerned by the implications.

"Nothing for you to worry about. Right now you just need to rest." Replied Kakashi back with a reassuring smile. The blond frowned at him, but he knew if Kakashi didn't want to talk about something, then there was nothing he could do to change his mind.

"Are you gonna dub him a missing-nin?" this question was directed to the oldest person in the room. The Hokage closed her eyes before answering.

"If I can convince the Council, then yes, I will." She responded, approaching the window. "Now that I know that he fought you and escaped voluntarily, it won't be so hard to do it."

"Don't." spoke the blond, his eyes searching for hers. Kakashi listened to him gravely, also interested on Sasuke's future. "There are many ways to bring him back. As soon as I get out of here I can look for him and-"

"You have other priorities apart from the Uchiha boy." Tsunade cut him off sternly. "The Akatsuki is still after you. They'll attack as soon as they have the chance; Jiraiya is going to take care of you for a while. There's no time for you to concern with Sasuke."

"He's my teammate!" the blond protested, raising his voice. Naruto then felt a sharp pain on his chest. His lungs weren't strong enough yet. He turned to his sensei pleadingly. "He can still be saved."

"Naruto, he has information about this village. I'm sure Orochimaru is going to use what he can get from him to harm Konoha. He has chosen his path… there's nothing we can do to help him anymore." The woman spoke.

"I won't give up on him! He… He said that he did this to finally be able to kill his brother. His intentions aren't about harming the village." With all the strength in his right arm, the blond pulled himself up on his elbow, eyes dazed with pain but still talking. "I can get stronger and look for him. Get strong enough to capture him alive."

He gasped of air. The words he spoke were strangled by the effort they required. Tsunade ordered him to lie down and stop talking so much, fearing that he might damage his lung again. Naruto just turned to his sensei for help, who was analyzing him silently.

"He can change his mind on coming back. Just like he did on running away." The blond said, this time talking to his sensei. The Kyuubi container's face was flushed and had started to sweat.

"Kakashi, you're Uchiha Sasuke's teacher. What are your thoughts about his future?" Naruto's attention to Kakashi made Tsunade feel obliged to ask for his opinion.

The copy cat ninja had his hands crossed in front of his face, his one visible eye was looking at Naruto intently.

"Sasuke did wrong." The former ANBU leader stated soberly, straightening his back. "Allying himself with Orochimaru's men, letting them hurt his fellow villagers and attacking his own teammate… I would've never expected that from him. But he is still young and, as my student, I would like to see him redeem himself." Kakashi sighed. "In the time I've been his sensei I've seen good in him."

"- He should be punished for his actions, but I'm far from giving up on him. I'll do whatever I can to bring him back, just like Naruto." The man finished seriously.

Tsunade pursed her lips at both man and boy. Sarutobi had said something very similar to what Kakashi said.

"Kakashi, the village needs your services on other areas. Sasuke is out of our reach now that he's in the Sound Village. Either if you went ahead to look for him, you would also have to find Orochimaru's lair where he most likely will be hiding, and he has so many and they all are so well hidden that it would take years to find the one."

"The only thing you could hope for is for them to make a move so we could locate them."

"I'll wait for that." Answered Kakashi simply.

"Me too." Added the blond.

"I'm sure they got to make a move someday."

The leader bristled, cursing their stubbornness, but she couldn't really blame them. She once had thought the same thing.

"I'll meet with the Council two days from now. We will decide Sasuke's status then, but I can't promise anything."

Naruto nodded, sweat running down his temples. He was feeling very tired.

"I want to know the result as soon as-"

"You need to stop worrying about that, look at you!" she gestured to the bandages and band-aids sticking to his body and face. "You can't even talk without being on the verge of fainting. I think it was a bad idea to see you so soon."

The Hokage took a pen from behind her ear and wrote something down on the clipboard hanging from Naruto's bed.

"Focus on getting better. Eat the food the hospital provides, it will help. If you don't, I'll have the nurses force-feed you, understand?" Tsunade ordered grumpily. "It won't be too hard in your current state." The blond made a face at the thought; he didn't fancy the hospital's food, much less Tsunade's ordered diets.

"No more visitors until the day after tomorrow. We don't want you to pass out on a conversation." She continued scribbling on the clipboard.

The blond nodded. It wasn't as if he was in the mood to talk with somebody else… although,

"Sakura's out there, isn't she?" he said rather than asked, looking over at the Hokage. The blond haired woman paused before responding.

"I can make an exception for her; she's on your team after all."

The blue-eyed jinchuriki seemed to ponder the offering. He slowly nodded.

Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair playfully, as a sign of goodbye. He had been assigned another mission in Suna that could not wait any longer. It seemed that the Kazekage could have left some hints about Orochimaru's hide out at Wind Country before he was killed. They hoped they could find it and dismantle it.

There was small talk outside his room, this time you could hear Sakura agreeing to make her visit short so Naruto could rest. The pink-haired girl entered his room and closed the door. Naruto stared at her for a moment, not noticing his stare was slowly transforming into a glare. Sakura noticed.

"Hi." She started, doubtful. Naruto didn't talk back, which made her quirk an eyebrow. "I'm… glad you are okay now." She continued but was cut off by his strained voice.

"You told him." He accused, cheeks flushed with anger, eyes narrowed to slits. "Why would you do that?"

Sakura froze at his words, feeling at a loss. "I..."

"He was crazy to see its power… Looked like a maniac." Naruto felt his throat was closing up, but ignored the feeing. Sakura's face slowly settled into one of understanding. "Why did you have to tell him in the first place?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I really am…" she clenched her fists, recalling the last time he saw Sasuke. "But it was eating him up, not knowing. He knew something was up with you, he kept telling me, asking me if I knew something about you that he didn't… Ever since you saved him from the Shukaku, and after watching you fight with his brother he just snapped."

This just made Naruto even angrier. His fists started to shake.

"You just don't get him at all, do you?! At first he just wanted power to go after Itachi, but after you told him that, he sought to defeat Kyuubi!"

"But I thought that maybe if I could give him some piece of mind, making him aware that fate just chose you to bear Kyuubi's power, he would calm down – "

"It was supposed to be a secret, Sakura. You had no right! We had a deal –" This time it was Sakura's turn to get angry, her green eyes glinting with resolution.

"A deal, you say? What about your promise to bring Sasuke back? You were so proud claiming you never went back on your words but look at you now, Naruto!" The Haruno said all that with one breath. She panted, frowning at him. Wet tears escaped her eyes.

They both stared at each other, shocked. The remaining members of team seven realized that, no matter their accusations to one another, the result was just the same.  
Naruto lowered his bright-blue eyes. It might be true that Sakura could've stirred things up a bit more, but that didn't change the fact that he came back home empty handed, almost losing his heart in the process.

In the end, they both just wanted the Uchiha to be amongst them. And he knew that Sakura wanted him back more than he did.

"I… I know I did wrong in telling him… I didn't have any right. But believe me, Naruto, the only thing I wanted was for him to turn around and walk back with me. I didn't know he would end up fighting you." Her tears receded, but her radiated sorrow all over her face. "It wasn't fair to place that kind of pressure on you. I should've been with you."

"Do you think that… maybe, if I had told him about Kyuubi before… we could have avoided this mess?" his face was honest. "Maybe we could've worked something out…"

Sakura didn't answer his question, which made Naruto think that she really did believe things would've turned out different with that knowledge. Instead she asked him a question of her own.

"If you ever get the chance to go after him again, will you?" her words hanged in the air.

"You know I don't quit." Was Naruto honest answer. He was surprised that Sakura would think that he would give up on his friend.

The girl smiled for the first time since she entered the room.

"When that time comes you can be sure I'll be there this time." The girl said firmly. Naruto noticed that she used 'when' instead of 'if'. That proved they were both convinced they would see the young Uchiha again.

* * *

Sakura didn't come back after their talk. They just didn't have anything to talk about, and they both needed time to adapt to the new Sasuke-free environment. His birthday was in six days, and what he wished the most was not to spend it on the hospital. Tsunade had predicted he would be staying perhaps two more weeks until he was fully healed but Naruto had been releasing small flows of the Red Chakra to quicken his healing rate, although not so much to avoid suspicion among anyone else who knew he was hospitalized.

Talking about friends… he had refused to receive visitors. The last one had been Sakura and his talk with her had left him depressed, a cloud of guiltiness hanging on top of him. Sasuke had been plaguing his mind these three days. The blond was remembering every time the Uchiha had looked at him distrustfully, starting with the day after Orochimaru had attacked them at the Forest of Death.

'_He had seen me use the fox's chakra twice but never did he mention it once.' _The boy recalled, pacing around the small room. _'I could've talk to him about Kyuubi, just as I did with Sakura. His mind would've been at easy then, probably. And all of this wouldn't have even happened…' _

He threw himself onto the hospital bed with an exasperated sigh.

"Stop thinking about this!" He ordered himself tensely, as he punched the hospital wall with the side of his fist; the action left his left side hurting but he pushed the pain away from his mind. Small pieces of white paint and concrete adorned his hand and fell to the floor, a small crack the form of his fist on the wall. _'…shit. Oba-chan's gonna make me pay for that.' _Thought that only made Naruto even more frustrated.

The young chuunin sighed one more time, preparing mentally for another day of bitter thoughts and solitude when his door opened abruptly and Kiba crashed in, riding a wheelchair. The makeshift vehicle wavered uncontrollably until it buckled over itself, sending Kiba to meet the floor with his face. The brunette fell in a heap on the white, clean floor.

Naruto looked at the groaning brunette with no expression whatsoever. He reacted seconds later,

"Damn it, Kiba, cover your butt. No one wants to see that thing." Kiba, wearing only the hospital gown, rolled over so his naked butt was now on the ground. He shivered at the sudden coldness on his rear.

"Not my fault. My mom was supposed to bring me clothes but she left on a mission with my sister. Now I don't know how I'm going to dress when I get out of here." He said, massaging his nose. Someone came chuckling from outside the room.

"I saw your everything!" Chouji was now openly laughing. He was wearing casual clothes, although they looked way too big for him. It was natural, the blond guessed, since he was now just as thin as Shikamaru. "But seriously, don't damage the chair. Other people might need it afterwards."

Kiba ignored his comment while he dusted himself off, muttering about how cold the floor was. He then proceeded to pick up the wheelchair that was lying sideways besides the door and flop down on it happily.

"I can pick up some clothes from your house, Kiba, and bring them tomorrow." Chouji offered and the Inuzuka thanked him.

"Where did you get that? You obviously don't need it." The blue-eye kid said nonchalantly.

"Found it on our way down here grouped with other wheelchairs. I don't think anyone's missing it."

"How are you doing?" The Akimichi asked nicely, sitting on the visitor's chair.

"All right, I guess. Although it might be another week before I get out of here." The whiskered chuunin answered crestfallen.

"Sucks to be you. I'm getting discharged tomorrow." Kiba grinned toothily.

"And at exactly 12 o'clock I'll be officially discharged." Said Chouji happily. "My parents are handling the paperwork, so I have little more than twenty minutes to spare."

Naruto nodded. He now understood how those two ended up in his room. Since they are still patients of the clinic, they can walk around all they want, not having to pass through the reception.

"I heard you haven't seen any one ever since you woke up." The Akimichi continued, taking a bag of chips from his pocket and opening it. He offered the blond, who accepted. "That true?"

"… I just want to rest." Naruto answered vaguely, looking down at his feet.

"It's not good to spend so much time alone. It makes you weird." Kiba piped in, grabbing some chips for himself. "I have only seen Akamaru once and it was just for five minutes. He's resting in my house. Good thing I was in the same room with Chouji or I'd have gone crazy."

The blond didn't acknowledge his statement, instead he changed the subject.

"How are the rest doing? I heard Shikamaru only ended up with a broken finger."

"He had chakra depletion also, but out of all of us he was the least injured." Chouji replied.

"Bastard." Commented the dog master playfully, rolling around the room.

"Neji's already walking again, although his upper body hurts when he moves. He might be doing five more days in here."

"I want to get the hell out of this place!" the blond sighed. "I miss my bed, I miss my ramen!"

"As soon as everyone's out, there'll be a BBQ at my house. I want to celebrate!"

"Celebrate what? A failed mission?" Kiba said cynically.

"No… That we came back alive." Chouji reasoned, emptying the bag into his mouth. Naruto wanted to smirk.

"Barely…"

"I don't care what the reason is, I'll be there." Kiba smiled. "I'm sick of hospital food."

"Cool! How 'bout you, Naruto? You need to cheer up!"

"I'm not really in the mood." Replied the blond, looking through the window.

"Think about it! It'd be fun. All the others have agreed already…"

Naruto didn't promise anything.

* * *

"Be careful! If you rip the paper it'd be worthless and- Geez!"

Naruto was starting to regret allowing visitors in. The first to come after he had given his authorization were Konoha's Young Troublemaking Trio: Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi, and they were a handful, especially in enclosed spaces. The kids were so excited to see him again they fell on him without any warning, pressing on Naruto's wounds and leaving him out of breath from the breath-taking, bone-crushing hug they delivered. Luckily he survived their initial encounter but he still needed to worry about their hyperactive nature.

Udon had been curiously handling his ramen coupons with moist, dirty hands and, in the process, he knocked over the only flower vase the blond owned, shattering it to pieces and scattering dirt all over the place.

"Uh-oh, sorry." Apologized the round-faced boy. Naruto barely paid attention to his apology, right now he was trying to get away from Moegi who had a few spikes of his golden hair in her hands and was trying to braid them.

"How did you three managed to get in here? I thought it was only one visitor at a time…"

"Actually its _two_ visitors at a time!" Udon commented brightly, holding up two fingers and grinning at him.

"That still doesn't explain-"

"Naruto-niisan, I think your hair is long enough for this to finally work!" she exclaimed happily while she twisted his hair with expertise. Sure enough, the blond's hair was too long for his liking; he made a mental note to cut it after he got out of the hospital.

"Please don't do that." The blond pleaded with a tired voice, both at Moegi and Konohamaru, who was balancing on top of his head on Naruto's bed.

"Naruto-niisan, is it true that a bridge in the Mist was named after you?" Udon said excitedly, looking at him expectantly.

"I don't think so, where did you get that anyways? Moegi, please?" The blond was desperately trying to get out of bed but Udon was standing in front of him, too close to the bed for the blond to reach his legs out and stand up.

"My uncle told me! He is a merchant and he just returned from an errand." The brown-haired academy student could barely be heard over the ruckus all around the blond.

"Sorry I couldn't hear what you- Ouch! Damn it, Konohamaru!" The blond bared his teeth as he hissed. Konohamaru had lost his balance and fell on top of Naruto, heel burying itself on his shoulder… the bad one.

"Sorry, boss." He gave out a nervous chuckle. The blond was still glaring at him while he massaged his shoulder with his opposite hand. "Hey! Want to see how much I've improved on the Sexy no Jutsu?"

Without waiting for an answer, the black-haired boy scurried out of the bed and backed away a little so he had space. He started to focus chakra.

"You aren't supposed to use any techniques inside the hospital. Ow, don't tug so hard!" the whiskered boy winced a little.

"Then stay still, niisan." The little girl scolded with a frown on her face.

"When are we going to play again? I want to play hide-and-seek!" Udon was tugging at his gown so that the blond would look at him. The blond turned his head down to look at the kid but Moegi placed both her hands on the side of his face and forced him to turn around so she could continue with her activity.

"You look funny with your face all scrunched up like this." The girl giggled, pushing Naruto's cheeks harder together. The blond gave her a bemused expression.

"Here I go!" Konohamaru exclaimed, his hands forming a hand seal and chakra starting to swirl around the boy.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Naruto said through contracted lips as Moegi continued to play with his face.

"They are."

The room fell silent and the kids stopped moving. The three kids and one chuunin turned to look at the entrance door, where the voice came from.

"I ran into Iruka-sensei on my way here. He doesn't seem very happy." Hinata said calmly, looking at the three youngsters pointedly. "He might be looking for you three."

Udon immediately blushed and started cleaning his hands on his trousers. Konohamaru stood up straight and scratched his head sheepishly, much like Naruto would do when he had been caught doing something he shouldn't.

"Well you see, hehe, we were just going to the bathroom and…"

"Ended up at the other end of the village?" she replied, an inquisitive eyebrow rising on her forehead.

"We got lost." Konohamaru tried again, but knew he was screwed. Hinata was one of the most intelligent girls he knew.

"We just wanted to see Naruto-niisan." Pouted the girl, forcing Naruto's head towards Hinata. He gave an awkward smile and a shrug. The girl sent a small smile back.

"We are very sorry, Hinata-sama." Udon said while bowing low, his face still colored.

"You just can't skip class, you know that right?"

"Hai." Chorused the academy kids obediently.

"Now get going. If you get back fast enough Iruka-sensei might not go so harsh on you."

"Not very likely." The chuunin commented under his breath, already feeling sorry for the kids. The blond knew just how mad Iruka would be and he would probably make them clean the whole classroom, write an essay on _'Why not to skip class' _and make them sharpen all the practice kunai.

"Bye boss, see ya tomorrow… or whenever we get done with detention!" exclaimed Sarutobi's grandson energetically; he already seemed accustomed to Iruka's punishments. Udon said something along those lines, although he did look worried. Moegi gave him a quick hug and jumped down his bed; she threw a suspicious look to Hinata. The trio also said farewell to the Hyuuga, Konohamaru hugging her middle and scrambling out the door. His two companions followed.

'_Unbelievable.' _Naruto marveled in his mind, staring at the Hyuuga beauty approaching him.

"How do you do that?" The whiskered blond wondered, flinging his feet away from the bed and sitting at the edge of it.

"H-How do I do what?" inquired Hinata, fighting her urge to look down and succeeding.

"That! You just said a few words and they apologized… with your mere presence they stopped fooling around! I'd been trying to do that for half-an-hour but they just don't listen."

"I-I think they were just startled, t-that's all. And the fact that I m-mentioned Iruka-sensei…" she stopped talking and giggled. Naruto cocked his head.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

"You look c-cute with that flower on your head. Moegi-chan did a g-good job." She placed a hand in front of her mouth to hide her laughter. Naruto cursed, guiding his right hand to his hair and feeling the braids the girl had managed to build.

"A flower? When did she managed to put it there?" Naruto asked more to himself than to his visitor. He caught something soft in his hand; when he looked into his palm he saw a wrinkled yellow flower lying there. He shook his head and started to undo the braids.

"How do you even…" the blond started, tugging at his branded spikes but failing to untangle them.

"L-Let me." The raven-haired genin offered, seeing that the blond needed more than one hand to do the job properly, walking up towards Naruto to untangle the small braids one by one. Naruto thanked her. She had her usual clothes on, since she was now on duty again.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, enjoying the feeling of his hair in her fingers.

"Fine. I don't hurt that much, unless I move my left shoulder, or breathe in too hard." Naruto motioned to his bandaged shoulder. He sat still as Hinata worked on his hair, enjoying the scent that she carried.

"I'm sorry." The blond said, breaking the comfortable silence that had grown between them. Her hands stopped moving but she didn't back away. The blond continued without lifting his face, eyes fixed on his toes. "I know that seeing me like this makes you upset. And last time I told said you wouldn't have to do it again but yet…"

"It w-was unfair of me to make y-you compromise to that, Naruto-kun." Judging by the low tone of her voice, Naruto knew she wasn't smiling anymore. Her hands had fallen to her sides and remained still. Her voice caught in her throat and the blond looked up sharply.

"Don't cry, please." Naruto said with alarm, watching the shining eyes of the Hyuuga. He extended a hesitant hand towards her but stopped midway; the girl she shook her head forcefully and displayed a forced smile.

"I-I-I won't." her voice wavered but she restrained her tears from falling. "I realized t-that is far b-better to see you in t-the hospital than… well…" she trailed off.

"Situations l-like this we can't c-control." She had regained control of herself again, but her eyes still watched him tenderly. Suddenly, Naruto felt guilty for not letting her come sooner. Obviously she was worried sick about him, and he would bet all his ramen that the heiress of the Hyuuga clan had been one of the first to come and visit him but he had hidden away in his room. For some reason, he thought that she deserved to make sure with her own eyes that he was all right.

'_I'm pushing people away, just like Sasuke did.' _

"You couldn't help e-ending up like this..." She finally said with sadness evident on her voice. Hinata retreated to the chair and sat down. Naruto saw her hug herself while she look at the broken vase and felt the urge to place his arm around her, but he had hurt her and didn't feel worthy.

"I could." He breathed, more to himself than to her, but Hinata heard him and she looked up.

"W-What do you mean?" she inquired, forgetting her sorrow for one moment. Naruto remained uncharacteristically silent and that worried the girl. The indigo-haired genin could see he meant what he said.

"Naruto-kun?" she prodded, searching for his eyes.

Silence.

He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it, and closed it again.

"I shouldn't have said that… don't even know what I'm talking about." He gave a heartless laugh, that came more like an awkward sighed. The girl frowned.

"Naruto-kun… did you…" she couldn't believe what she was about to propose but something told her she might be right. "Did you l-let Sasuke do this to you?"

Naruto looked up at her warily, and found his eyes being weighted by her own lilac ones. The fact that she had eliminated the suffix on the Uchiha's name was a way of her referring at him with hostility; it might not mean much from someone else but from Hinata that meant unfriendliness. Finally, he lost the stare battle and shook his head once, dropping his head to look at his bandaged feet.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said dryly. Naruto felt the girl's stare right on his head.

"I'm confused Naruto-kun." She said, her voice serious. "I'm not meaning to pry but… I just don't understand h-how could you have avoided t-this from happening but you chose not to…"

"Hinata…" Naruto started, really uncomfortable with her tone.

"He almost killed you!" Hinata rose from her chair.

Naruto had to snap his head up again and stare at the girl standing in front of him. This was definitively the first time she had actually _shouted _at someone, and the fact that it was towards him made the matter even worse. Another thing struck him: there were fresh tears of indignation running down her cheeks and into the floor.

Needless to say, Naruto was shocked. Apart from that he was confused too, since he couldn't think of a reason why she might be crying _this _time, if she was positively mad at him. He opened his mouth to ask the question circling his mind but nothing came out of his mouth.

"D-Don't you realize that?" her tone receded but the intention remained. Her fists were clenched and she was shaking with pure anger. "Why would you t-throw your life away like that? Didn't you care about the people w-waiting for you back here?! Why do you have to b-be so selfish tha-"

"It was either me or him, Hinata, don't you see?!" If Hinata had been shouting, then Naruto was bellowing. He, also, had stood up. The motion had been so forceful that the bed had been kicked back and crashed into the wall. The girl was taken aback by his reaction but she stood her ground.

"WWhat…"

"We were both on our last jutsu and someone _had _to die." The blond's face was flushed by his outburst. "And I just…"

Hinata gasped. She wasn't the only one crying anymore. Fat tears rolled down Naruto's whiskered cheeks, but his eyes were still fixed hers.

"I couldn't kill him, for fuck's sake!" The rage on his voice was directed at him, not at Hinata. But she had taken it out of him and now he couldn't stop. "I knew I should! It was my duty to bring him back but, how could I ever face Sakura if I dragged Sasuke's corpse back here?!"

"How could I look at myself in the mirror again if I had driven my hand through his chest?" He closed his eyes shut, stifling a sob but it hurt his chest. "God! He was my friend, Hinata, I couldn't just murder him! And now he's with those Sound bastards, throwing his life away!"

There it was. One, two, three sobs escaped his throat. Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She flung herself at him, arms encircling his neck and squeezing as strong as she could. She forced her tears away, because right now she needed to be strong and comfort him.

Naruto's body reacted almost instantly, right arm spreading across her back and pressing with all the strength in his heart. Even his left arm made its way to her waist but it hurt to raise it, so he left it there and there it stayed.

"I couldn't. I just couldn't…" He repeated miserably multiple times on her ear while he sobbed even more. Eventually his speech abilities ended and he was just a shaking mess on Hinata's arms. His back shook violently and the Hyuuga caressed the back of his hair, whispering,

"Shhh." Tenderly into his ear, feeling his strong arm pull her even harder towards him. Naruto was holding onto her for dear life. "It's okay, Naruto-kun."

"Fuck." She heard the blond mutter besides her. Her shoulder had now become moist with his tears.

"It's OK." Hinata repeated, heart constricting painfully at each gasp that came out of him. She then angled her head towards his and kissed him softly on his temple, without realizing she had even done it. It lasted no longer than half a second, but seemed to pull Naruto out of his shaken thoughts. "I understand, Naruto-kun."

He stilled his breathing slowly, and weakened his half-hug on her back, but kept it loosely around her midsection. Hinata remained still for thirty more seconds, making sure Naruto had regained his calm.

She slowly snaked her arms away from him, and cocked her head to the side so she could look at his face. She caught his eyes as he opened.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, running from her eyes and looking at the opposite direction. She disregarded his apology and placed a hand on his lower neck,

"Are you OK?" she asked, voice shrinking. Her timid side was starting to come out again. He didn't look at her but performed two quick nods in reply. Taking a step back Naruto felt for his bed and sat down heavily, placing a hand on his head and tugging brusquely at his hair. He tried to hide his face the best he could from the girl.

"Kami, I'm so sorry." He repeated, this time with his normal tone. Hinata, suddenly noticing the lack of warmth in front of her looked aside with a tinge of disappointment. She sat down again.

"There's no need." She assured.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." He continued without listening.

"I'm sorry _I _y-yelled at you." The girl clarified, cheeks coloring at the memory. "I d-didn't understand t-the situation…"

The blond shook his head to show her that it wasn't really her fault. Hinata didn't like that he was hiding under his hand.

"P-Please look at m-me, N-Naruto-kun." The genin pleaded. "T-There's nothing to be ashamed about."

Naruto sighed deeply. He lifted his head to look at her. Hinata saw his reddened eyes.

"I'll still feel embarrassed for at least one week." He managed to lift his lips into a tiny smile. That was enough for the Hyuuga.

"D-Don't-"

"Don't tell Kiba." The blond added hastily, blue eyes pleading.

"I w-won't tell anyone." She assured.

"But _especially _Kiba." Stressed the Kyuubi container. He was sure Kiba would never let him hear the end of it. That earned a smile from Hinata.

"N-Naruto-kun, I have to go now…" Hinata started, looking at the clock. She should've been home for lunch fifteen minutes ago. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, it was a long visit… but thanks for coming." The blond raised his hand subconsciously to his face and touched his right temple. Somehow that place seemed warmer than the rest of his face; he then remembered why and a blush spread from his ears to his cheeks.

Hinata saw his blush and turned scarlet. Before he could say anything she stuttered her farewell and scurried out of the room, leaving an embarrassed Naruto staring at the door.

Hyuuga Hinata hurried to reach the nearest corner. As soon as she did, she placed her back against the cold wall with one hand on top of her beating heart and the other gingerly touching her rosy lips.

'_I can't believe I did that!' _she repeated to herself numerous times, as a smile spread throughout her face and stayed there for the next two hours.

She dreamed of Naruto that night and, unbeknown to her, that same boy also dreamt about her and her kiss.

Unfortunately, the blond's dream had completely been forgotten by the time a nurse brought him his breakfast.

* * *

**Author's section**

**It's 4:02 a.m in my country and I just couldn't go to sleep because I was too excited writing that last part! XD. My best NaruHina moment so far, don't you think? I loved it! Did it in a kind of trance. **

**Merry Christmas people, and Happy Holidays!**

**Please review to let me know what you think.**

**Take care.**

** - Patty**


	33. Chapter 33

**0NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'_**Kyuubi thinking'**_

"Normal speech"

'_Characters thinking'_

**Author's note:**

**Sooooo, as it turns out, this is the last chapter of this volume. You won't be seeing Naruto again until he grows up. Kind of sad, right?**

* * *

"A NINJA'S LIFE"

Chapter 33

"Tsunade-sama, new missions just arrived from Mist. I left them on your desk while you were on the meeting and they need to be ranked." Shizune said, walking briskly behind the Hokage, who had just got off the elevator with a frown on her face. The black-haired woman didn't take notice of her mentor's obvious bad mood and looked down on her clipboard, searching for the next important topic to inform.

Tsunade was barely listening. Half her mind was still going through what had happened at the Council meeting just now; the other half was reciting the contents of the latest report from Jiraiya again. He wrote about Akatsuki's members sightings on Takigakure, presuming their intentions to capture the jinchuriki residing there, but said that Naruto's demon was still in danger.

'_Naruto needs to disappear while Akatsuki is not looking', _finished the letter, along with a promise of coming back to Konoha soon.

" – Our ambassador from Suna informed that a Kazekage had yet to be chosen. Apparently the elders have decided to place a temporary leader while they sort out the former Kazekage's murder." She rambled on, almost tripping with a lamp near the wall. "Still looking for Orochimaru's trace, I suppose…"

The older woman grunted her agreement. Sunagakure is a very proud village, and its citizens do not forget easily. It will be a long time before they put that matter aside and move on with other issues.

"You have an appointment tomorrow at three o'clock with the sculptor. He says it will last at least two hours for him to make a small model of your face, take some pictures… I think that's it for today…" She trailed off. They had now entered the hall that lead directly towards the Hokage's private office and were now alone. "How did the meeting go?"

"As you would expect." Bristled the Hokage, clearly displeased. "Sensei's teammates gave an honorable speech about protecting our village's resources and history, referring to the Uchiha. They claimed that the kid was still young and didn't know wrong from right… He's still a Konoha ninja by our rules." Tsunade was still mad at herself for not putting enough enthusiasm against the decision as she would have liked.

'_At least Naruto will be happy…' _She mused as they approached her office.

"There's something else, Tsunade-sama…" started her pupil, turning her head forward and motioning to a girl standing in front of her office door. Tsunade raised an eyebrow. The pink-haired girl heard them coming and turned her head, greeting them with a bow.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Haruno Sakura." The Hokage acknowledged, looking down at the girl. She sighed. "If this is about Sasuke, the official announcement will be made public tomorrow morning."

"It isn't." the green-eyed girl hurried to say, but it was clear that she still was concerned about the matter. "I came here to request something of you…"

This earned a look of curiosity from the Hokage. She looked at Shizune, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"I only have one minute to spare." The blond-haired woman said, opening the door. "Come on in."

* * *

"I thought I told you not to use _Its _chakra." Hissed the blond-haired Hokage, eyes closed tightly, trying to contain her anger so she wouldn't smack the blond in the head.

"What was the point on trying to control it if I can't use it when I wanna?" Naruto said happily, naked feet dangling from his bed back and forth. Iruka had finally been able to visit him and he brought him a bag full of his clothes. Naruto was glad he had given the teacher a copy of his apartment key.

The boy was shirtless and Tsunade had just removed the bandages from his chest when she noticed the abnormal improvement on his wounds.

"People might get suspicious!" She exclaimed.

"Every adult knows about the Kyuubi so it won't be a surprise. Besides, you are the best medic-nin in the world! I can say it was your doing!" Naruto said with a grin. He could move his arm a little bit more without wincing, as well as breathing easier, and the injuries on his chest and feet had already scarred. In a week or so the scar would no longer be there.

Tsunade was still glaring at him. Naruto's smile faltered.

"C'mon! All the other guys were already discharged." He pouted. Even Lee was running by now. The green clad genin had passed by his room and greeted him cheerfully. "I just don't wanna spend my birthday in here." Naruto finally said with a sigh. October tenth was in two days and Naruto itched to eat some birthday ramen.

Tsunade's eyes finally softened. She slumped her shoulders in defeat.

"I will let you out tomorrow." Conceded the big-breasted woman. Naruto whooped in response, jumping out of his bed. "But you will need to use a shoulder sling; I don't want you making any brusque movements with your arm." She sent a warning glance at the chuunin when he was about to protest. Naruto stayed silent.

"No shouting or screaming. I'll give you some pain pills just in case…" Tsunade was now writing something on the clipboard. "Come here again on Monday, to see your progress."

"When can I start training again?" Naruto inquired.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Naruto. You're still weak."

"Fine. Sorry." The blond rolled his eyes.

"On that note…" started the Fifth Hokage, scratching out something on the paper absentmindedly. "Jiraiya will be arriving soon."

Naruto raised his head. "Took him long enough."

The older woman agreed with him. "You'll be resuming your training with him, although it will be different from before." Her words were careful and precise, attention resting fully upon him.

"What'cha mean?" The whiskered chuunin looked up at her warily, sensing something was up.

"It's not official yet, nor have we discussed thoroughly but it's very likely you will train with him away from the village for your own safety."

Her eyes studied his eyebrows knit together in confusion. He then sighed.

"Akatsuki, right?" Tsunade was glad he understood the reasons so quickly. "How long will I be training away from here?"

Tsunade pursed her lips, taking a deep breath before answering.

"Two years."

Naruto's eyes visibly widened at that.

"You will be turning back once he decides you're ready to fend for yourself against them." Finished the Hokage somberly, watching his expression carefully.

Naruto's blue pupils travelled towards the ground, where they stayed for a few seconds.

"Just when I was starting to get comfortable in here…" he said with a low tone.

"You have to understand that it's-"

"Necessary, I know." Naruto cut her off. Surprisingly, the blond sent her a soft smile. "I'll make the best out of it."

"We will talk about this some more when he gets here." The long-haired blond said, lowering her clipboard.

The other blond left in the room sighed, having mixed feelings about the whole thing.

'_At least I'll be one step closer to becoming Hokage.' _

The blond dressed himself up, careful not to move his left arm so much.

* * *

He couldn't be happier about leaving before noon. That meant he could have lunch somewhere else, and forget about hospital food for a good while. The blond was pacing around his room, waiting impatiently for his release papers. Gift cards, coupons and letters packed in his bag, along with a set of clothes he had used yesterday. Naruto's left arm was dangling inside a dark-blue shoulder sling; the blond scoffed at it but figured out there was nothing he could do about it. His ears perked up at the sound of laughter coming from the hall. The whiskered boy cocked his head, as he thought the voices sounded familiar but couldn't quite place who they belonged to. The Uzumaki didn't have to ponder for much longer since the owners of the voices entered his room and greeted him warmly.

It was Shizune and Iruka.

"What are you doing here?" his question was directed at his former Academy teacher, since he could figure out what Tsunade's assistance business was with him by looking at the sheet of paper on her fingers.

"I'm here to hand you your documents." Answered Shizune simply, a smile on her face, as she pushed the discharging papers on Naruto's hand.

"And I'm here to take you to Ichiraku for lunch." Proclaimed Iruka with a broad smile. Naruto grinned, glad that Iruka remembered his promise of taking him for ramen as soon as he got out. Before they exited the room, Shizune held them for five minutes to warn the boy about yelling, laughing or coughing too hard, for fear of damaging his respiratory organs.

"Am I getting my chuunin jacket back?" Naruto inquired, dismissing Shizune's health tips.

"Not until you're on active duty again." The young woman answered, pinning her pen on her left ear and saying farewell to both ninjas with a pleasant smile.

"Let's hurry. I wanna be there before it fills up." The blond prodded, walking in front of the teacher. It was Saturday after all, one of the busiest days of the restaurant. A few nurses greeted him as he passed by and Naruto responded with a wave of his hand. Most of them had been really nice to him, which made his hospitalization a little bit easier to cope with.

"Don't worry, I told Teuchi we'd be coming today, so he'll save us three spots." Iruka watched as the nurses smiled at the blond, pleased.

"Three?"

"Yup. Konohamaru didn't want to miss this. He's waiting by the reception." Iruka silently prayed that the little boy was behaving himself. Fortunately, the boy had busied himself with a magazine he found by a little table. As soon as he heard them coming, his head shot up and a toothy grin spread across his round face.

"Boss!" He greeted energetically, running up to him with the magazine in his hand. "Look! You didn't get to see my new henge the last time, but this kinda looks like her!"

Naruto glanced at the model he was pointing at; her hair reached the middle of her back and it was brown and slightly spiked. Whether she was wearing a bikini or underwear, he couldn't tell, but she seemed really happy to be walking around a backyard, showing off her well-endowed body and winking at the camera.

"See? My boobs are as big as hers!" called the eight-year old, proudly. Both Naruto's eyebrows were raised as he wondered how a magazine of that sort ended up on a hospital lounge. _'If his jutsu really looks half as good as this woman does, he might have already master it…' _

"**Naruto." **Iruka seethed behind him. The blond gulped, remembering an Academy teacher was with them. **"You did not teach him **_**that **_**jutsu." **In that moment the whiskered kid wished he hadn't, since he could feel all the fury directed at him.

"That was a long time ago, sensei!" defended Konohamaru, stepping in between the two males. "Since chuunins don't have much time to spare, he could just give me a few tips from time to time, like checking on the public pools or going at the bathhouses and-"

"For the love of- shut it, Konohamaru!" the blond exclaimed alarmingly. Given his current state, he wouldn't be able to avoid being strangled by the older man, and Iruka's strained face told him that was exactly what he wanted to do.

"I just tried to help him with the henge no jutsu…" explained the blond nervously, holding up his hand. "I wasn't thinking and I did the sexy no jutsu by accident, and he wouldn't stop asking me to teach it to him…"

"He's eight!" spat Iruka. Naruto was sure there was a protruding vein under his headband. "_And _the grandson of the former Hokage! What would-"

"You shouldn't be shouting inside the hospital, sensei." Piped up the boy, timidly. He winced mentally at the angry look Iruka sent him but the man contained himself.

"You can thank Kami you're not my student anymore, Naruto."

Naruto did just that mentally.

"At least he'll have an easier time with the transformation techniques, eh?" The Uzumaki said, trying to ease Iruka's bad mood. Iruka ignored his comment.

"Konohamaru," Iruka's attention was now completely on poor Konohamaru, who seemed to shrink from his gaze. "If I ever catch you doing that technique, or going near the bathhouse or doing anything suspicious, I swear I'll have you clean the Academy's bathrooms for a whole year."

You could hear Konohamaru gulp from the other end of the room.

"B-But I go once a month to the bathhouse with my uncle." Naruto was impressed at Konohamaru's inability to recognize when it was time to shut up.

Iruka's eyebrow twitched. He sent a look at his student that clearly said '_You have been warned'_ and marched off towards the hospital exit. Naruto doubted they were still being treated to Ichiraku, but Iruka turned around and nudged his head towards the doors.

"Let's go, before I change my mind." He called grumpily.

* * *

Her knuckles raped the hard wood of the front door repeatedly. She waited, cross armed, but there was no answer from the other side.

"You sure he's home?" The girl asked, starting to feel annoyed and directing her gaze at her quiet companion. "I can't feel his chakra."

"I think he is, I mean… He likes to sleep until late." said Hinata, doubtful. She was beginning to worry he would be elsewhere, but she couldn't think of any other place he might be at this time.

"He better be inside, or this whole thing will go to waste." Ino replied, turning again for the entrance and knocking even louder. The door started to shake slightly under her knuckles. "Naruto! Open up!"

They stayed silent, trying to listen to any sign of life coming from inside. Hinata might have imagined it but she heard a faint sound from the other side of the door. The other girl also heard it.

Ino bellowed again, patience burning out, hitting the wood with her open palm and making even the walls tremble. Ten seconds passed and there wasn't any sign that Naruto was going to greet them. The Yamanaka frowned, eyes darkening for a second. She sighed. "Guess this can't be helped."

Hinata watched curiously as the golden-haired kunoichi took out what looked like a credit card from her pocket and inserted it in between the edge of the door and the wall.

"Hope this works…" muttered the female, sticking her tongue out as she pushed and moved the card around, eyebrows knitted in concentration.

"Ino-san," the Hyuuga called, hesitant. The indigo-haired girl looked around nervously, expecting a neighbor to show up unexpectedly and scold them for trying to break in an apartment. "I'm not sure Naruto-kun would like it…." Before she could even finish the phrase, a soft 'click' went out, and Ino swung the door open. Ino let out a triumphant 'ah!'.

"Huh, that wasn't too hard." she said to herself rather than to the other genin, letting herself into the apartment. "You worry too much, Hinata."

Hinata hesitated as she looked into the dark apartment. Ino was already making her way easily towards the only room inside. The Hyuuga, after thinking it over, stepped in.

The inside of the residence had been cleaned recently. Hinata could tell by the faint scent of floor cleaner still lingering around. There was a glass and a big bowl with remnants of popcorn on the sink, which made it easy to tell just what the Uzumaki had done yesterday night.

"Naruto!" Ino's yell snapped Hinata's attention back to her. They stood outside the half-open door of his room, listening to the blond's soft breathing. The bedroom was even darker than the living room, since the living room had two windows that lighted the whole area. But she could see the chuunin's body sprawled on top of the bed, sheets only covering his bottom and lower back.

Hinata saw one of the blond's leg twitch, but it became still again. She couldn't help to think Naruto was getting almost too big for his bed, since his toes already reached the edge of the mattress.

Ino, pissed that the chuunin was still ignoring her calls, stormed into his room and rooted herself besides his bed. The Hyuuga, unable to invade such a private space, just stood outside his room and watched attentively as the Yamanaka opened her mouth besides his ear. Hinata held her breath for what was about to come.

"Oi! Uzumaki!" she called one last time, looming over the male's sleeping form and glaring at him. This time the blond jumped out of his skin, ears throbbing, heart racing, clinging to his covers for dear life. His blue eyes were clearly disorientated with sleepiness, and his hair seemed wilder than usual.

"Shit!" The chuunin yelped, looking around his room for the intruder and finding her in between his night stand and his closet. "Ino?!"

He stared at her with dazed eyes for a moment, thinking this was some kind of dream, but discarded it at once since he'd never dreamt about the girl.

"The hell are you doing in my room?!" Out of everyone he knew, the Yamanaka would be the last person he would expect to be in his home.

"Getting you." The blue-eye beauty explained, satisfied with his reaction and moving towards his window to pull the curtains open, allowing the sunlight hit the room with full force.

"Gah." Naruto cringed at the sudden brightness. "Why did you enter without my permission?!" Naruto asked again, exasperated, placing his palm on his eyes to block the sun.

"'Cause you weren't answer!" replied the girl, throwing her hand in the air.

"I didn't want to answer!" spat the blond. "I was sleeping, if you hadn't notice already."

"It's almost noon…"

"So?" Naruto replied nonchalantly, his initial shock receding. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, slowly sitting up straight. He yawned and moved his shoulder gently; sleeping with the shoulder sling stiffened his shoulder a bit. "I'm off duty."

"Doesn't matter. Hurry up, we don't wanna be late."

"Late for what?" the blond asked, massaging his neck tiredly.

"Chouji's BBQ." Ino responded simply.

"Oh." The whiskered boy sighed sleepily. He yawned again. "Was that today?"

"Yeah, and people are already there." Said Ino, making her way towards the door. She almost tripped with a shirt lying on the floor, and also noticed a pair of pants discarded at one corner. "Are you naked?" she asked suspiciously, noticing Naruto's bare chest and legs.

"N-No!" Naruto answered indignantly. "I have my underwear… It's just that it was too hot last night, and it's hard to get dressed with the sling." He hurried to clarify, embarrassed. It was just then that he noticed the other individual standing under his door.

"Ah… you're also here…" Naruto said without thinking, his ears coloring at her presence.

Hinata, taking his words as a greeting, rushed to salute him as well, resulting in her stammering. "G-G-Good morning." The girl was already red from the mention of Naruto being naked and, even though it wasn't true, she could still see 80% of his bare body.

Nobody spoke for a while. Hinata was too busy biting her lower lip and searching her mind for something else to say, while Naruto was trying really hard not to look in the eyes of the person who had watched him cry like a baby. Ino, feeling the awkward environment hanging in between them and not really understanding the situation, opened her mouth.

"Yeah, so, are you coming or not?" She watched the blond expectantly.

"I… uh… had already planned to go to Ichiraku's." Naruto started. "It's kind of a tradition since it's my-"

"You can have ramen any other day." Ino said, bad mood rising again. "Besides, we even came to get you!"

"Ah…" the chuunin hesitated. He wasn't surprised that she didn't know today was his thirteenth birthday; very few people knew and all of them were adults.

"I-It will be fun, Naruto-kun." Came Hinata's voice. She stepped closer to the bed, her eyes clinging on to his. "I promise."

'_Shit.' _Naruto sighed. _'This is not how I imagined my birthday would be like… I already rented the movies for tonight!' _The blond opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind at the last moment.

"If you don't wanna go, that's fine." Snapped the long-haired kunoichi, turning around, ready to leave. "Don't expect us to beg anymore. Come Hinata."

The blond saw a flash of deep disappointment within the Hyuuga's eyes. Ino tugged at her arm and forced her to walk away. Hinata seemed utterly crushed.

"Wait!" Naruto burst out, standing suddenly from his bed, covers falling freely to the wooden floor. Ino and Hinata turned at his words. "I'll go, just give me ten minutes?"

The blue-eyed girl nodded, a small smile on her face. Hinata wore a relieved grin on hers.

"You can take whatever you want from the kitchen, and the TV is yours. I'm gonna get ready." He then noticed he only had his boxers and hurried to close the door, leaving the two kunoichi alone.

"He's too predictable." Said Ino with a satisfied grin, heading for the couch. "Did you see his boxers?" They were white with black 'Z's stamped on them. "Kind of cute, huh?"

Hinata reddened.

"_You talking about me?" _Naruto's muffled voice came from the other side of the walls.

"None of your business! Just get ready!" Ino yelled back, sitting on the far left of the black couch. She listened for the blond's footsteps around his room and, a while later, the shower coming to life.

He couldn't hear them now.

"Did something happen between you two?" Ino demanded to know, her face fully turned to Hinata's pale one. The Hyuuga had just claimed her seat on the couch and the question caught her off guard.

"W-What?" she asked, astonished at Ino's question. Lilac eyes meeting fierce, blue ones.

"Did something happen between you and Naruto?" She rephrased, talking more slowly but looking accusingly at Hinata, eyes suspicious. "I've never seen him act that way with anyone! I mean, he was acting shy, for Kami's sake! And that's usually your role. I swear he was blushing, Hinata, _blushing!_" the Yamanaka's hands shot up. Hinata cringed at her loudness, placing a slender finger in front of her lips and praying for Ino not to be so loud.

"Answer me." The taller girl prodded.

"Ino-san, nothing out of the ordinary has happened." The other girl affirmed, although the wave of her voice said otherwise.

"You're a horrible liar, Hinata." The kunoichi accused, a smug smile on her face. She inched closer to the Hyuuga conspiratorially. "Did you tell him you liked him?"

"I-I-Ino!" Hinata hissed nervously, face growing impossibly red. She was on the verge of hyperventilating. "D-Don't say it so loud! He m-might listen."

Hinata had already learned to cope with the fact that all the other girls (and possibly the boys) already knew about her crush on Naruto; and ever since she started to hang out more than usual with him the last few months triggered questions coming from the group of girls every time they saw each other. They basically wanted to be up to date on their relationship status (not that there was one, Hinata assured), but the Hyuuga still couldn't react as calm as she would like whenever they suggested stuff relating her and Naruto so openly.

Ino snorted at her reaction, but still pressed the subject. "Did you?"

"N-No." She looked anxiously at Naruto's bedroom door, fearing he might burst it open at any second. She breathed a few times to calm herself, making sure the shower was still running. "You know I would faint before I could confess."

"But there's something up with you two, I can feel it." Ino pouted, resting her chin on her palm. She looked at Hinata with the corner of her eye. "I think he _likes _you."

Hinata actually scoffed at her proposition. "Likes me?" She wanted to laugh out loud; that was ludicrous. She knew she got along well with the chuunin but she didn't hold any false hope of him reciprocating her feelings. _'Besides… it's not about just liking him anymore… He only sees me as a friend at most.' _

She sighed dejectedly, eyes traveling to the coffee table in front of her.

"D-Don't be silly. That's-" her breath caught in her throat at the sound of the bathroom door opening and footsteps going around the bedroom. Indistinctive words swam to their ears and both girls strained to hear them better.

"Is he singing?" The female blond quirked an amused eyebrow to her friend.

"He's just talking." Hinata corrected. She didn't have a hard time believing Naruto spoke to himself; he lived alone after all. He was muttering something about a shirt.

"We're nothing more than friends." Hinata finally whispered, settling back on the couch and signalizing the end of their conversation. Ino shrugged, finally letting go of the subject and stretching her arms over her head.

"I'm just gonna get my shirt, then we can go." Said a neat Naruto, coming out of his room shirtless and walking briskly across the living room onto the small laundry room located besides the far end of the kitchen. The dark-blue shoulder sling on hand. He didn't spare them a glance, but Hinata's eyes did linger on his smooth back and waist, her face flushing brightly.

"Yum." Ino said into her ear with a smile, watching the Hyuuga stare at the blond. Hinata immediately jumped in surprise and turned her red face forward.

"You say something?" Naruto called from the other end of the room, struggling to get into a blue shirt. His left arm slid slowly through the sleeve opening. Hinata was tempted to offer help, but the thought of helping him dress might knock her out for at least an hour.

"Nuh-huh." Answered the other blond in the room.

"Finally." The blond grunted, flattening the creases of the fabric with one hand. _'Now I've to get this damned thing on.' _

"Need any help?" Ino asked.

"No, no. I'm almost…" The blond answered, adjusting the sling clumsily. "There!"

"Let's go, then!" The blond-haired girl stood up swiftly, heading for the door and ushering the other two outside. Naruto barely had time to get his keys and wallet.

The rusty, old iron staircase vibrated as the trio made their way to the busy street. They had to maneuver their way slowly, trying not to bump into too many pedestrians. Naruto was aware he was attracting people's attention as he walked and kept his head down, not wanting to start a scene or an altercation with anyone. Not today.

"You need to change your door lock, Naruto." Ino commented, watching curiously a green necklace being auctioned by an old lady on a stand.

"Yeah, I noticed." The blue-eye Uzumaki replied, uninterested, halting his step to let a kid with his grandparent pass.

"No, seriously. It took me less than a minute to open it. Do you want to get robbed or something?"

Naruto shrugged. "Robbed? I only have an old TV with an even older couch, and thirty cups of ramen… there's nothing appealing about that." The only thing Naruto considered worth keeping safe was his kunai set; the one he had won at the Academy.

Ino shook her head at Naruto's logic but didn't say anything else. "This way." She hurried ahead and took a left on an old looking building. "We're not so far."

As they ventured further into North Konoha, the market stands and roaming villagers started to subside, leaving only occasional pedestrians strolling around the streets. But even after leaving the crowd behind, Naruto could still feel people making a double-take while they looked at him; some even went as far as to point their fingers at him as they recognized his blond hair and whiskered cheeks.

'_Not now.' _The blond pleaded in his mind, regretting he didn't had a jacket with a hood so he could pull it onto himself. _'Not with them watching.'_

The people were getting bolder, snarling as he walk-passed them and sneering at him in disgust. The girls were conversing and apparently missed the villagers' behavior towards the shinobi, but they might pick up on it if they continued to look at him like that.

If he were walking around his neighborhood he wouldn't be glared as much as in any other place. His neighbors knew him and were accustomed to see the blond walking around, but Naruto barely ventured to the streets he now walked, much less on this special day, since it was the day to grief the victims the Kyuubi had killed.

"_Isn't he…?" _A woman snarled, peering closer at him. Naruto looked brusquely away from her.

"_What is he doing here?" _A man in his fifties demanded to no one in particular, as he sat on a stool beneath the shadow of a porch.

"_The nerve of that thing!" _Naruto heard another lady claim, five minutes later. Burying his good hand into his pocket and hunching his shoulders, the blond picked up his speed with short strides.

"You little bastard!" At last, a man found the courage to walk up to him menacingly from the other side of the street. Naruto had the intention to just keep going, ignoring the bald man, but Hinata and Ino immediately halted their steps and looked at the approaching forty-year-old curiously.

The chuunin cursed mentally, seeing that the two girls weren't moving. He turned around.

"Wait here for a bit. I need to settle something with this man." Naruto said rapidly, holding up his hands to further stress his wishes that they would not follow him. Ino and Hinata sent him puzzled looks, but Naruto trotted rapidly towards the incoming man and away from them before they could say anything.

"Are you trying to mock me?!" the man demanded with a raspy snarl, grey eyes full of hatred intended at the blond. The whiskered blond stopped short in his tracks, not bothering to look up. "You dare to show your face today of all days!"

"Hush." The blond said irritably, looking nervously at the girls. "You're gonna get in trouble if they hear you."

"You got yourself a couple of friends, don't you?" sneered the villager spitefully, ignoring Naruto's words; eyes turning to the girls. He then noticed Hinata's pupil-less eyes. "I don't believe it! You tricked a Hyuuga to hang out with you, you piece of shit."

"Is everything all right, Naruto?" Ino called, eyes falling cautiously on the unknown man. Hinata was staring at him suspiciously, not liking how he was throwing dirty looks at Naruto. The blond turned with a tense smile and waved dismissively, assuring everything was fine.

"If they knew… oh! if they only knew!"

"You better hold your tongue." Warned the blond darkly.

"I don't even know why they let you walk around like you've done nothing!" spat the man, ignoring the blond's words, taking a step forward but not daring to come closer to the offending blond, who had just turned his cold, blue-eyes to the man. The man's black eyes were dancing with rage and pain. "You're just a monst-"

"Finish that word, old man, and I'll assume you broke the Sandaime's law." Hissed the blond, raising his head so he could look at the man square in the face.

"Y-You pretentious fucker." Stuttered the villager, face flushed with anger, now thinking he was better off back at his shop. "I ought to break your neck!"

"You forget I'm a chuunin." Naruto glared ominously at the older man. "I have the authority to take you in. I can even carry out the death sentence if I deem it necessary."

The man spluttered incoherently, too mad to articulate any more words. But his face was steadily growing red. Naruto knew he wouldn't calm down.

The blond sighed, fearing this could get out of hand. He tried another approach. "Look, mister, I know you're in pain but this isn't the time to-"

Hard knuckles buried themselves on the blond's right cheek. The punch was strong enough to twist Naruto's head to the side; a throbbing pain inserted itself on his face. The thought of dodging the hit crossed the blond's mind, but another part of him told him that the older man would finally calm down if he let him discharge his rage on him with that punch.

"Don't you talk to me like you know what we went through! How could you know my pain? You killed my sister!" The man spat, eyes shining with tears of grief.

"Hey!" Ino yelled from behind. Naruto heard them hurrying towards him; he turned his hard eyes to the panting man. He now saw fear on his dark eyes; he knew he could be punished for touching him.

"Go away." The blond ordered, still feeling the shape of his fist on his face. "Leave me alone and you won't be punished."

The man looked from the blond to the girls and back to Naruto. He opened his mouth but, thinking it over, turned around and hurried back to his shop, his fist aching.

"Come back!" The Yamanaka called after the running man. "What's wrong with you?!"

"No. Let him go." Naruto said, turning around and stopping Ino from going after the man.

"Why did you let him?" the girl demanded as she frowned at Naruto. Hinata was also looking at him confusedly. "He can't just punch you and walk away."

"It's no big deal, I didn't even feel it." Assured the Uzumaki, waving it off. "I broke his window recently and he's just mad."

"But-"

"Let's just go." This time his voice was serious. He was now thinking it definitively was a bad idea to come out today. _'Let's just get this over with.' _Naruto told himself gloomily, starting off again towards Chouji's house, leaving the girls no choice but to follow him. "We've wasted enough time already."

Hinata frowned as she watched the blond's skin evolving into a faint bruise. Something was definitively wrong with Naruto today; he wasn't the type of person to walk away with his head down after such a confrontation.

"Is he okay? He's acting really weird today." Ino whispered to Hinata, who was watching his hunched back as he walked. The Hyuuga agreed quietly, a pensive look on her face.

"Don't worry." The other girl said, patting her back amiably. "He'll cheer up eventually."

Hinata sincerely hoped so.

Naruto didn't speak for the rest of the trip.

"This is it." Ino announced, guiding them through a small metal fence that surrounded the two story wooden house. It wasn't nearly as big as the Hyuuga mansion but it was ten times bigger than Naruto's whole apartment.

Just like Hinata's house, it had a well tended garden. Naruto walked towards the front door but was stopped by Ino, saying they would go all the way around towards the back of the house.

"How many people live here?" the blond asked, looking at the nicely furnished living room through a window as they walked.

"Just Chouji and his parents." Ino answered. Naruto looked surprised. "They need the space to work on their pills and practice their jutsus."

As they approached the end of the corner, the distinctive smell of roasted beef reached their noses. Naruto inhaled deeply, troubled thoughts quickly being forgotten as he realized just how hungry he was.

Hinata glanced at the now smiling boy discreetly. _'I hope he likes it.' _She told herself slightly nervous for how the evening might turn out.

"Ino." Naruto turned around to face the girls as he walked, a slight frown settling on his face. "How many people did you say were going to be here?" As he recalled, Chouji had mentioned that he'd invite just the genins that participated on the chuunin exam. But as he focused more and more, he could feel at least ten individuals gathered at the other side of the house.

Ino smiled smugly. "I didn't." she replied simply, walking by past him and leaving him confused.

"Ah?" Naruto turned instead to Hinata. She, too, was wearing a smile. As soon as she reached the end of the wall she turned around and faced him fully.

"Happy Birthday, Naruto-kun." She pronounced sweetly, savoring the words she had been dying to say ever since she saw him today. Naruto could barely register her voice, since he could now see what was happening behind her. His eyebrows shot upwards as he read the fun-colored letters imprinted on the banner hanging across two lampposts.

Naruto had to double check the banner, as he was sure he hadn't read correctly.

**Happy Birthday, Naruto. **Said the blue glittered, uppercase letters. On either end of the banner were three thick, black short lines hand-drawn on the cloth, representing Naruto's ever present whisker marks on his cheeks. His inspection of the banner was violently interrupted by a set of thunderous voices chanting the same word.

"SURPRISE!" Naruto's unbelieving eyes turned to the people that had started to walk towards him, wearing wide grins.

"You're kidding me." Breathed the blond, sure no one could hear him over the loud chatter of congratulating words, multiple laughs and colorful blowouts tickling his face. His body was immediately recipient of hands clapping him warmly on the back and leading him closer to the grill and long table located at the center of the yard.

"It technically isn't a surprise party, since he knew we were going to be here." Shikamaru drawled from Naruto's right, a cup dangling from his fingers.

"He's surprised enough." Confronted Ino, scowling at her partner.

"How do you like it?" asked Chouji happily, with a white chef hat on top of his head. Naruto turned his eyes to him but was distracted by a cord being wrapped under his chin and a party-cone hat settling on his own hair.

"Here you go, Naruto-kun! Now you're all set!" Lee's voice boomed dangerously close to his ear. Both he and Tenten grinned at him as they took a step backwards to have a better view of him. They flashed him a thumps-up, both wearing hats resembling the Uzumaki's. Naruto's fingers tapped his makeshift hat, a smile growing on his face.

"C'mon, Neji. You're the only one missing a hat." Called Tenten, body turning at Neji walking cross-armed towards them.

"I'm not. I don't understand why our team is the only one using them." The older boy said, referring to the birthday hat hanging loosely off his fingers.

"We aren't the only ones." Defended Lee, placing both hands over his head protectively. "The kids are also wearing them."

"That's because they are kids, Lee. We are proper ninja." Countered Neji, rolling his eyes.

"Fine. Don't wear it if you don't want to but don't take the fun out of it." Tenten said harshly, glaring at her teammate. Neji shrugged mildly and turned his eyes to Naruto, who was very much entertained at their argument.

"Congratulations." Said the Hyuuga politely, offering his palm at the blond. Naruto took it, smiling in appreciation.

"Thanks. Glad to know you're alive."

"Same goes for you." Replied the long-haired genin as he smiled thinly. "Get better soon. You still owe me a spar." This earned a grin from the blond.

"Oh! Me too! I've always wanted to test your skills, Naruto-kun!" Lee interjected, eyes shinning brightly at the idea.

Unbeknown to them, Hinata was silently watching them interact, her eyes bright with happiness and relief that two of the most important boys in her life were being friendly to each other.

Kiba and Shino approached him a few moments later, the Inuzuka clapping him in the back and the Aburame offering a slight nod of his head.

"What took you so long?" Kiba demanded.

"He didn't want to come." Ino said eyeing Naruto accusingly. "It took us longer than expected to convince him."

Naruto sent an apologetic smile to the girls.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Does it matter?" the Yamanaka replied before anyone else could, a grin on her face. The blond wanted to know but he knew immediately who was responsible, after seeing Iruka coming towards him with his arms extended.

"You told them, didn't you?" The blond commented, a grin spreading all over his face as his former sensei enveloped him on a one armed hug.

"Don't worry about that. Just enjoy your party!" Iruka exclaimed, wishing him a happy thirteenth birthday.

To his surprise, Chouji's parents also congratulated him, both awarding him warm smiles and handshakes.

"You didn't have to trouble." The blond commented, a hand on the back of his head.

Choza and his wife shook their heads. "Not at all! We love having Chouji's friends over. Besides, we should also celebrate that you came back alive."

They retired to the grill along with their child, helping him cook the meat.

Konohamaru and his friends took turns to congratulate him, more enthusiastic than any of the other party members. Flashes started to pop out of nowhere, blinding Naruto momentarily. It turned out that Moegi brought her new disposable camera and was determined to capture every moment of Naruto's birthday.

"Oh! Can I sign it?" inquired Konohamaru, dark eyes firmly positioned on Naruto's shoulder.

"Yeah! Me too!" exclaimed Moegi and Udon at the same time, the girl still clinging to Naruto's middle. The blond was surprised that Lee's voice joined them, appearing behind the youngsters and raising his hand to the sky.

"It's a sling, not a cast." The blond clarified, feeling the eyes of everyone on him.

"So?" the four chorused inching closer to Naruto, Udon taking out a black marker seemingly out of nowhere. The whiskered boy sweat dropped, stepping back.

"It's not made of something you can write on…" continued the blond, hiding his sling with his body. The three boys and a genin sighed helplessly, disappointment evident on their innocent faces.

"How about you help me hand out the drinks?" chimed in Hinata, placing a hand on both Konohamaru and Udon's shoulders. Udon flushed avidly, but didn't lower his eyes, as Moegi giggled behind him. He nodded.

"I bet I can serve more drinks than any of you." Called Konohamaru, already running towards the table where a set of filled plastic cups were gathered.

"It doesn't count if you spill them!" shouted Moegi, following closely and taking Udon by the wrist with her.

"Here you go, Naruto." Chouji said, a hand firmly falling on Naruto's shoulder and handing him a plastic plate with a sizzling hamburger on it. "The toppings are on that table."

Naruto's mouth immediately began to water at the sight of the sizzling meat and the smell it produced.

"Gather 'round, everybody. There's plenty for everyone!" the Yamanaka exclaimed for everyone on the backyard to hear. Boys, girls and adults quickly made their way towards the grill, where the Akimichi family was handing out hamburgers and hotdogs.

As Naruto was doubling the size of his hamburger with bacon and cheese toppings, Hinata offered him a cold glass of soda.

"I-Is coke okay?" She called, coming from behind and trying to smile through her blush. Naruto turned to her and nodded, setting his plate down so he could receive the glass.

"I can't believe I almost missed this." Said the whiskered boy.

"D-Do you like it?" The raven-haired Hyuuga asked softly, looking at his reddened cheek and wondering if it was hurting him.

"Like it?" Naruto laughed heartily, taking a swing of his coke. "This is great! I've never…" He trailed off, eyes resting on the laughing people enjoying their food. "I love it."

Hinata's heart grew twice its size as she watched his smile envelope his whole face, making his whisker marks widen.

"The best part is still to come." She breathed inaudibly.

"Huh?" The blond turned to her, but she acted as she didn't say anything. Images of her holding him flashed in his head but he pushed them away from his mind. He didn't want it to become awkward again.

"Sakura-chan, you made it." Hinata said, regarding the incoming pink-haired girl with a smile. Naruto noticed her face was much livelier than the last time she saw her, you could even say she seemed happy again, but once she approached them he could see a tinge of sorrow shadowing her eyes. He suddenly felt guilty as he noticed how he had been enjoying himself too much to worry or even think about his former teammate.

'_If he had just waited a couple of weeks more… we could be sharing a burger right now.' _Hinata watched crestfallen as the joy on her crush rapidly left his face, leaving only a false smile masking his young face.

"Hey Sakura." The spiked-haired chuunin greeted, turning his eyes to her.

"Sorry for being late." She said breathlessly, offering and apologetic smile directed to the Hyuuga. "Happy Birthday, Naruto."

"Thanks." Replied the blond. Hinata offered her a beverage and she gladly accepted it. Neither of them said anything after that, but the Haruno kept looking at the blond pointedly, which made Naruto lift an eyebrow in curiosity.

This didn't go unnoticed by the Hyuuga girl so she excused herself and left the two remaining members of team 7 alone.

"Guess what." She said, excitement filling her eyes in less than a second.

"What?" Naruto placed his cup on the table, turning his full attention to his companion.

Sakura smiled widely, eyes shining as she opened her mouth.

"Hokage-sama's going to start training me, starting next week." She said quickly, barely containing her excitement. "Isn't that great?"

"Tsunade's gonna train you? For what? Being the next Hokage?" The blond didn't mean it as a joke, as that was the only thought that came to his mind. Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't get mad at him; she was in such a good mood nothing he said today could upset her.

"She's a medic nin." Explained Sakura, patiently. "And the best one at that. I talked to her before coming here and asked her to take me under her wing. I'm starting next week."

Naruto's eyes glittered with comprehension.

"Isn't medic-nin training the longest there is? I mean, I think you're gonna have to learn medicine first, before you even start with chakra healing." _'Although she already knows a tad about healing chakra, only from reading books.' _

"It takes years." Agreed the pink-haired girl, placing a hand on the table cloth and looking at Naruto's slinged arm. "But I feel it is the right thing to do for me."

She looked down at her sandals.

"I've realized I can't keep up with you two, since my fighting skills aren't very helpful, but I feel healing others is something I might be good at, you know? Even Sasuke-kun said so…" Her eyes darkened with remembrance at Sasuke's approving look at her new healing skills.

Not even the background music and the laughter of their friends could interrupt the silence that grew amongst them.

"I'm also..."

"Hm?"

The blond sighed. "Jiraiya is gonna continue training me for some time."

"That's great!" Sakura exclaimed, clapping her hands, but she noticed his not-so-sure face and cocked her head. "Isn't it?"

"It is, but it's going to be away from here." He anticipated her incoming question. "I don't know for how long."

"It isn't that bad. Out of all of us, you're the one who needs to get stronger, you know?"

The blond sent her an inquiring look.

"There are people looking for you, after all…" Naruto praised her deduction skills; he forgot how smart she could be when her mind wasn't fussing over the Uchiha.

"I guess team 7 will be just you and Kakashi for a while." Said the blond.

The newly appointed Tsunade apprentice shook her head sadly.

"Learning not only with Tsunade-sama but also Shizune-san is a full time job, Naruto." Sakura said with half a smile. "She was going to talk with Kakashi-sensei and tell him to disband our team while we take care of ourselves."

"Disband?" Naruto repeated, confusedly. "Can she just do that? What is Kakashi-sensei going to do? We are his students."

"Technically not anymore." A voice answered from behind the two of them. "It'd be better for you to finish your training with your new teachers before you come back to me. I've decided to step back."

"But sensei! Our team! It'd-" Naruto started, turning around to face the masked man.

"Don't worry, Naruto. Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama are far better masters than I am. I'm glad my students will be training with the best of the best." Kakashi answered cheerfully, winking an eye at them. Naruto realized that he didn't mean that just for the two of them; missing-nin or not, Orochimaru was still one of the three legendary sennins, and he was going to be Sasuke's new master whether they liked it or not.

'_Funny how things worked out.' _Naruto thought, wanting to laugh but only a smirk crossed his face. Tsunade got Sakura, Orochimaru got Sasuke and Jiraiya was stuck with him. Three sennins with three students from the same team, Naruto had to wonder if fate was actually involved in all this.

"What are you gonna do without us in your way?" Sakura questioned, turning her body to the older man.

"I'd like to say I'm going to enjoy a long vacation, but given how things turned out, I'll go back into the black corps and see if I can catch up with Orochimaru before he rots Sasuke too much." The jounin wasn't smiling anymore. "It's going to be a hard task since we have nowhere to start."

"I'd like to help you with that." Naruto interjected, eyes narrowed.

"First train, then you can help me out. Along with Sakura." They smiled. "Team 7 isn't finished, it's just on hold for the moment."

The three shared a smile.

"And Naruto?"

"Yeah, sensei?" the blond asked, looking up.

"Happy birthday." Kakashi said, grinning under his mark.

* * *

"I really need to go." Said Kiba for the third time in five minutes; butt firmly planted on his white chair.

"Then go." Replied Shikamaru and Ino at the same time.

The Inuzuka grunted as he struggled to stand up, but his heavy belly made that a pretty difficult task. Right now the Inuzuka, the Uzumaki and the Akimichi were thinking they shouldn't have had participated on their food competition.

"Can't believe we finished all the meat." Whispered Chouji for the nth time, eyes a little disorientated.

"I can't believe we still had space for cake." Added the whiskered chuunin tiredly from his seat. He was more lying than sitting in it, with his legs stretched as far as they could go and his arms hanging lifelessly besides the arms of the chair. His eyes explored the darkened sky.

"Good thing we made two, right Hinata?" Ino winked at her companion on her right. The Hyuuga girl nodded with a smile, glad that everyone enjoyed the cake that she and Ino prepared the day before.

"I still can't thank you enough." The blond said sincerely, eyes flickering at every person remaining, as he stroked the scabbard of his new most prized possession. Kakashi had given him a tanto as a birthday gift; it was small enough to hide behind your back and to take it out fast and easy, but the steel was real solid and perfect for piercing hard materials, so it was better than a kunai for close combat. After everybody had a good look at it, the blond took it for himself and hadn't let go of it since; it had been resting on his chest for the past half-hour.

"_I used to have one just like this when I was your age." _The Hatake told him as he handed it to him.

But Kakashi wasn't the only one to give him something; in fact, every team had approached him with a present after eating cake.

He got a new radio kit from Neji, Lee and Tenten, which Naruto very much needed. From Team 8 he received a pair of black shoes, because:

"_Shino insisted on something that served a purpose…"_ drawled Kiba as he scratched his head.

Naruto got several books. One handed to him by Ino on medicinal plants and flowers, on behalf of Team 10. Another one from Sakura, but this one was a specialized First Aid book with methods to treat most kinds of accidents, ranging from ways to treat scorpion venom to poisoned drinks; there was even a whole chapter dedicated to explain what to do in case you lost a leg/hand/foot. Iruka didn't give him a book but a scroll on middle ranked ninjutsu.

Team Konohamaru gave him a different kind of scroll; this one was white linen with a diagonal seal across the rectangular shape. He was instructed by the Sandaime's grandson that he could seal up to seven objects in there so he could carry them wherever he went, and by performing three hand signs he could summon them back to him again.

Just when Naruto thought he had collected all of his gifts, Shizune approached him with a big bundle on her arms. This one was from the Hokage, and it was a beautiful white cloak with red horizontal strips at the bottom. On the inner part of the cloak were two inscriptions: The first one read the directions to wash and dry the fabric properly, the second one was a reminder that the cloak was also fireproof.

These gifts were neatly stacked on top of each other on top of a table besides the grill. The blond would occasionally throw his head back to check on them and smile afterwards.

"You don't have to thank us." Kiba finally said, picking up a sleeping Akamaru carefully and placing him under his arm. "We all needed this to relax."

Shaking hands with Chouji and waving at the rest of them, Kiba left the house. With him gone there were only five persons left: Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto.

"Well." The Yamanaka said as she kneeled down to pick up a scattered plastic cup on the ground. "We should start to clean this up."

"We'll help." The blond said, after sharing a nod with Hinata, and stood up.

"You don't have to. You're the birthday boy after all."

"Then let me help." The indigo-haired girl offered.

"You acted like a waitress the whole time, Hinata." Ino scolded, crossing her arms on her. The blond-haired girl had to remove the tray and snacks from Hinata's hands, lead her to a seat and push her down so she could rest from her uncalled services.

"We got this." Finalized Shikamaru, stretching lazily. "It's a drag but we always clean up after one of Chouji's gatherings. If my mother found out I didn't help…" The chuunin grimaced to himself, unable to finish the sentence.

"My mom packed what was left of the cake for you, Naruto." Chouji added with a smile.

"Thanks, but I don't think I can carry everything back home." The Kyuubi container looked over at his pile of gifts worriedly. With his hurt shoulder he couldn't summon his clones, he was going to need a miracle to take all the gifts home with one arm.

Ino smiled in anticipation for what was about to come. The blond girl turned her head to the Hyuuga just as she was opening her mouth to speak.

"I'll h-help you with those." The girl said curtly, immediately aware that Ino and Shikamaru were looking at her knowingly.

Naruto grinned as he thanked her. Ino announced she was going to the bathroom, and took Hinata along with her, promising they wouldn't take long. Now only the boys remained on the yard.

"We don't have much time." The Akimichi said hurriedly, voice dropping so only Naruto and Shikamaru could hear him. The blond uttered a confused 'huh' but was quickly shushed by Chouji.

"Listen, we really shouldn't be telling you this…" started Chouji secretively.

"- Especially since Hinata asked us not to tell." The Nara pointed out, scratching his chin absently. "But Ino really thinks you should hear this."

"Hear what? What did she do?" Naruto's attention had suddenly spiked and his eyes had narrowed ever so slightly.

The pineapple-haired boy nudged at Chouji to continue, and Chouji did.

"This party… the whole thing was Hinata's idea." The tattooed boy whispered, stepping closer to Naruto conspiratorially. Naruto looked at both of them for a minute, and Shikamaru knew a few wheels were working on his mind… or not.

"Hold on… I thought this BBQ was your idea, Chouji. You were the one who invited me when I was in the hospital." Started Naruto, a frown forming over his eyebrows.

"Essentially, yes, but when I invited Hinata she suggested to make it a birthday party for you." The brunette answered.

"What?" The blond asked, incredulous. "How did she even know my birthday date?"

"Who cares?" The dark-eyed chuunin replied. "But the point is that she did and talked to everyone to be here on time. She even invited Iruka and those kids and Kakashi and-"

"Wait, so..." The blond pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Iruka wasn't the one who told you it was my birthday?"

Chouji and Shikamaru shook their heads.

"The plan to come and get me from my apartment?"

"Hinata." Replied Chouji and Shikamaru at the same time.

"The surprise party?"

"Hinata."

"The cake?" the blond continued to interrogate, recalling how the chocolate cake had had a simple imitation of his whiskered face drawn on top of the frosting.

"Hinata and Ino." They said. "Although it was Hinata's ideas… Tenten also helped baking it."

"And the gifts?"

"Well… we knew Iruka was going to give you something, so we thought that each team would give you a present, nothing fancy. But the point is that you should know who was behind all this. She really outdid herself."

"She…" Naruto then remembered the look on her face when she thought he wasn't coming with her and Ino; the look on her face could break anyone else's heart.

"Why? Why would she plan all this?" The blond demanded.

"You really don't know why? Can't you think of anything?" Shikamaru eyes searched Naruto's.

"I don't know." The blond threw his hands in the air, he suddenly felt interrogated. "But now that I think about it, it really doesn't surprise me that much. She's always looking out for me."

"Doesn't that tell you anything?" Chouji asked suggestively. The male members of team 10 felt they were about to see Naruto's breakthrough.

"Uhm…" the blond started, thinking really hard.

The two best friends leaned closer, waiting for Naruto to say something.

"I'm gonna say that she cares for me." The blond said slowly. "Isn't that what friends do for each other? Man, does that mean I have to organize a surprise party for her birthday too? I don't even know when it is!"

Shikamaru emitted a soft groan of frustration.

"Can't you think of anything else, Naruto?" Chouji tried one last time, but before Naruto could start thinking again, they heard the girls approaching from within the house.

"Leave it at that, Chouji. We tried." The Nara placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. He then turned to Naruto. "Don't tell her we told you."

Shikamaru's eyes bore into Naruto's, desperately making one last attempt to make him understand. The blond just raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was staring at him so weirdly.

"I won't." the Uzumaki finally spoke out.

"- And if you do, say it is all Ino's fault."

* * *

"These are v-very rare, especially to be found on a country like ours." Said the Hyuuga happily, running a careful hand over Tsunade's gift.

"Yeah?" the blond asked mechanically, barely paying attention to what she was saying.

"Uh-huh." The raved-haired beauty responded, examining the fabric. "They are very v-valuable on dry or hot places, like Suna, where fires are c-common."

"People also wear them in Iwagakure, w-where there is said to be caves filled with fire-breathing worms the size of horses…"

'_She seems so happy.' _The blond thought, watching the gentle coloring of her cheeks as she spoke. Hinata really seemed content as she walked, not showing the usual signs of nervousness she displayed when they hung out.

Naruto himself was oddly calm, even though he was still troubled by what Shikamaru and Chouji just revealed to him. Maybe it was because they were essentially alone; night had fallen already and people were at home praying for their loved ones who died so many years ago.

The air was cool but none of them felt cold; it was the perfect temperature. She continued to talk about how the cloak was also a good defense against some corrosive agents, but he only noticed how her lips rose into a small laugh at something she just thought about. His own lips formed a smile and his eyes softened, forgetting why he was so focused on her reasons to throw him a party.

The air around him was filled with an amazing sound that made his smile widen even more. He later found out it was her laughter.

"W-What?" It took Naruto ten seconds to find out that that question was directed at him.

"Hmm?" he asked stupidly, finding her eyes on him, and suddenly realizing how dumb he must look like to her: his head was tilted sideways, eyes resting on her face and a goofy smile all over his. He must have been looking at her like that for five minutes. His smile converted into a grin.

"You look funny." She said through her gentle flush. "Are you even l-listening?"

Naruto smiled guiltily, Hinata laughed again.

"Iruka-sensei always said I was a bad listener." Said the blond. "Maybe it was because I always fell asleep during his lectures."

"Lectures, classes, d-demonstrations…" the girl added. "I always wondered why y-you were so tired all the time. There were times I thought you w-would just fall when you were standing." The girl sometimes thought he might have had a condition.

"Actually…" Naruto chuckled at the memory of him tripping on the way downstairs towards the bathroom; his eyes had been heavy with sleep. "Nevermind."

"I'm just glad you s-started looking better after we graduated."

"Lots changed after we graduated." Mused the blond as he recalled his training to keep the Fox at bay.

"And it's been less t-than a year." Hinata said fondly.

"Yeah… Who would have thought I would become chuunin on my first try, out of hundreds of other shinobi?"

"I w-would." The girl answered sincerely, looking back at him and allowing her cheeks to flush another shade of pink. "Never o-once doubted it." She said the last part really low but still audible enough for Naruto's ears to get it.

"You might be the only one." The blond said, taking his left hand slowly to his face and nursing the already healed bruise from earlier today. "…But thank you." It felt good knowing there was someone cheering up on him when everybody else just wanted to see him fail. He turned his azure eyes to the girl and started to measure her up, deciding whether to bring up the topic that had been circling his mind since he left Chouji's.

"Wanna know what my favorite part of today was?" he asked with a fresh smile.

"The gifts?" The girl guessed, looking down at her left hand were Naruto's birthday presents were wrapped and stuffed into a bag. The blond shook his head.

"Those were cool, I've never had a proper gift before but I liked something even more."

"What was it, then?" Although the night was starting to get pretty chilly, the smile Naruto kept firmly placed in his face warmed her enough to fight the cold away. The blond hesitated one last time, but decided to go for it.

"That you had gone through all this trouble just to make this the greatest day of my life." Naruto spoke as he looked ahead of him. Only his footsteps echoed through the street; they had already entered his neighborhood and Naruto's building blocked the moonlight to reach their faces. The whiskered boy turned to find Hinata rooted on the ground a few meters away from him.

Her pupil-less eyes weren't seeing anything in particular. Her mouth had dropped as she tried to speak but her throat failed her. Naruto backed up and stood in front of her, waiting for her to react.

She finally did.

"I-I-I-I d-d-didn't…" How could he possibly have figured that out? She tried to deny it but if her profuse stuttering didn't rat her out, Naruto's knowing eyes already told her it was futile. Her face turned incredibly hot and her head dropped. "W-Who told y-you?" She asked at last, although the Hyuuga already had a good idea of who might be behind this. Right now Ino was in the list of her least favorite people.

Naruto grinned at her embarrassment, thinking it made her look really cute.

"Does it matter?"

The girl kept looking at the ground for a few seconds before answering.

"I-I'm sorry." Was the only thing Hinata could think of saying right now. Why was she so sorry about? Sorry she couldn't have congratulated him the way she wanted to? Sorry she had spent his whole party worrying if everyone else was having a good time and couldn't spend time with him? Or sorry that she had to rely on Ino to bring him to a party that had been her idea?

The blond got slightly irritated by her answer. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Really? You move so many people and plan such a great party and you're apologizing for it? Hinata!" He lunged forward and placed the best hug he could give with his pained arm on her frame.

The girl inhaled sharply at the blond's sudden motion. His bright, yellow hair tickled her face and blurred her vision. She found the tips of her feet barely brushing the ground and her ankles high in the air. Two things came to her mind in that instant, one, Naruto had grown a couple of inches since they graduated from the Academy, and two, placing his left arm around her waist meant that he was straining his injury more than he should be.

"N-Naruto-kun, your arm…" she said through a dense blush covering her face. Naruto wave her comment off.

"I'm very lucky to have you around, you know?" he whispered, knowing they were close enough for the girl to hear him clearly. His hot breath gave birth to an exquisite chill that ran all through Hinata's body. "No one has cared for me like you have, and I don't say it just because of today, but because you always treat me like I was someone special. That shows how great you are."

'_You are more than special to me, Naruto-kun. I've fallen for you and I feel scared that I could love someone so much, and I just don't know when will my feelings stop growing for you because you're just perfect in all your ways.' _Hinata scolded herself for not being able to convert those thoughts into words. She just lay mesmerized by his words in his strong embrace.

"- And I don't really understand why you would treat me as you do, but I'm not gonna question it 'cause I'm just happy that you've accepted to be my friend, and I don't think I can ever repay you for everything you have done for me to this day but I swear to Kami I'm gonna try." The blond paused to regain his breath. "So thank you for taking care of me and for making this day infinitively better." He opened his mouth just as another thing popped into his mind. "Oh! And I'm sorry I acted so weird after what happened at the hospital, I just didn't know how-"

Her arms, trapped to her sides, started to push him away. Naruto didn't know what to think of it so he just loosened his grip and let her down, wondering if he had gone too far on his speech and/or actions to make her uncomfortable.

"Hin?" He asked, cocking his head to one side and watching silently as the girl started to rummage inside the bag of gifts. The Hyuuga heiress didn't answer to his call, which made him even more restless to know what was going through her mind.

"I-I.." She stammered, head bowed as she looked at what she had on her hand. Naruto took half a step back to see just what she was looking at. His confusion escalated as he saw a large package wrapped in black and green paper, with a red ribbon on top.

His eyes fell back on her face, bewildered and looking for an answer. Hinata looked at him timidly, as she set the bag with the other gifts down and took the one she had on both hands. She could understand why he was at a loss; the present she had on her hands hadn't been opened by him. In fact he didn't know it existed, because she had been too shy to give it to him in front of everyone. So she waited for them to leave and, without him looking, mixed her package with the rest of the presents, decided to give it to him in private.

"Is that for me?" Naruto asked, attention falling back to the package. Hinata wet her lips, then opened her mouth,

"It b-broke the one g-gift per team rule…" She started, eyes darting nervously from gift to boy. "So I d-decided to g-give it to you later on."

The girl handed it to him without another word and Naruto took it carefully, noticing that it was much lighter than he expected.

"You're kidding." Naruto breathed. "After all you've done today you still-"

"It's m-my decision." Her face was getting darker by the second. "Open it."

Naruto looked at her. She nudged her head at gift. He then nodded. As he started to unwrap it he fought the excitement of getting yet another gift. _'This day just keeps getting better.' _He tried not to damage the paper covering the gift but it tore open as soon as he pulled.

"Sorry." He said quickly, looking at the girl who just shook her head with an anxious giggle. As Naruto progressed, Hinata started to bite her lower lip nervously as she watched apprehensively.

"Is that a…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he let the paper fall to the ground. His fingers explored the fabric carefully, enjoying the softness under them.

The jacket was black with two blue stripes falling from the shoulder seams and all through the chest and back. It had the traditional red-swirl pattern on the back every ninja jacket possessed and a cotton hood hanging loosely from behind. The blond raised his eyes to her, perplexed.

"I-I thought you might n-need a new one a-after…" she trailed off, not eager to talk about how Naruto's last jacket, along with his chest, had been ripped through.

"Can I try it on?" The whiskered chuunin asked eagerly, fingers running through the smooth fabric. Despite Hinata's nervousness, she laughed openly at his question.

"I-It's yours, Naruto-kun." She placed a hand in front of her mouth and grinned at his excitement as he hastily tried it on. He had discarded the shoulder sling before she could tell him not to do so and had now slipped into the jacket.

"This is great! I mean…" Naruto twisted his torso and moved his arm as he admired it happily. "It's perfect, Hinata!"

"I'm g-glad you like it." She replied, shoulders loosing up in relief.

"How do I look?" The Uzumaki questioned happily, placing the hood on his head and looking at Hinata expectantly.

She opened her mouth just as a shadow exited Naruto's apartment. It was almost too fast to see but they noticed the motion behind them.

"Did you…?" The raven-haired girl glanced at Naruto worriedly. The boy had turned to face his apartment.

"Don't worry." Naruto called. "It's just Jiraiya. He's gone now."

"What d-did he want?" Hinata turned to him and noticed the joy his eyes had been holding was now gone; just a pensive look on his remained.

"I think I know." He turned around to grab the bag but Hinata beat him to it.

"Here. Y-You shouldn't take this off." She offered him his shoulder sling and Naruto smiled as he accepted it. But instead of placing it on again, he took her hand and led her forward.

"Let's see what that old pervert wanted." Hinata, too stunned to reply, followed him wordlessly, all too aware that his hand was very warm and it fit perfectly on hers.

"He's the third person to sneak into my home." The blond commented as he opened the door and pocketed the keys. Hinata was still speechless as his hand was still holding hers. Much to her disappointment, he finally let go and took the bag from her other hand to place it on the couch.

"Look." Hinata finally reacted, as she noticed a bag on top of the coffee table.

"That's not mine." The blond said, walking towards it with Hinata behind him. There was a yellow post-it clinging to the top of the bag and the blond took it. The girl took her distance and let the blond read it, not wanting to pry.

"_I didn't want to interrupt the two of you so as soon as you read this start packing._

_Meet me at the East Gate, we're leaving at midnight. _

_The bag is yours, Happy Birthday._

_Jiariya."_

Naruto's eyes fell on the brand new red backpack lying on his table. It was ten times better than the old one he owned but he still found it hard to feel happy about Jiraiya's gift. He wanted to enjoy his duty-free week testing his new tanto and hanging out with the others, but he knew Jiraiya wouldn't be calling him so fast if it wasn't necessary. He sighed.

"Is s-something wrong, Naruto-kun?" Came Hinata's voice from behind. She had a feeling something was up.

"Well…" he started, turning to face her with apologetic eyes. "I was going to tell you this later but it seems my time's up."

"Y-You're leaving, aren't you?" Hinata asked, eyes casted downwards. It was pretty clear from the bag on the table. The blond nodded solemnly. "F-For how long?"

Naruto sighed a second time before answering, something Hinata found alarming.

"Two… Two years."

Hinata's lilac eyes widened painfully, a cold sensation growing from her belly and spreading through her body.

"Kakashi told us today our team was disbanded for as long as I was away." The shinobi said, turning to analyze the backpack further. "Sakura's gonna train with Tsunade, so she'll be busy enough…"

For as much as she'd like to listen to what he was saying, Hinata's brain failed to register any of his words. Her whole attention was in obliging herself not to cry at the terrible news she was listening to. Two years! How was she supposed to go through her daily life knowing she wouldn't be seeing nor hearing from him for twenty-four months straight? This was so unfair! They had been getting along so well and-

"Hinata?" Naruto's voice finally reached her, making her loose her train of thought. Her shaken eyes traveled to his worried ones.

"I… I just…" She was so shaken she didn't find the energy to stutter. Hinata sat on the couch without noticing. The blond took a wary step closer to her. "Two years is a really long time."

"I know." The blond agreed, sitting next to her and clasping his hands together thoughtfully. "I'm sorry I didn't break this to you sooner. I just didn't want to kill the mood. Please don't hate me." He said the last part half-jokingly, and turned to the girl with a hopeful smile, but Hinata's eyes were shadowed by her hair and she didn't say anything. Naruto started to think that she really was mad at him for keeping it from her, but Hinata suddenly leaned her body towards him and rested her head on his shoulder wordlessly. Naruto didn't know what to say or do, since she wasn't saying anything. The blond sat paralyzed, searching for the appropriate thing to do in this situation.

"I can't hate you, Naruto-kun." She breathed weakly on his neck, eyelids closed firmly. Tears were threatening to fall but she kept them at bay. She was too sad to worry over what he might be thinking right now. "I can't…"

Naruto's heart softened and, not even noticing the blush that crept to his face, placed a firm arm around her frame. Hinata scooped closer to him until she found a comfortable position in between his arm and shoulder and there she stood quietly, placing a hand on top of his chest. A lone tear ran down her face but the blond held her even more strongly, and there she found the support to fight the impending sorrow away. She undoubtedly was going to cry over him, but not right now. Right now she was going to enjoy whatever time was left.

The Uzumaki raised his head to the ceiling and wondered what would happen if he refused to meet Jiraiya today and just stay with her like that. Then he dismissed the idea, knowing the sennin would come looking for him and he would have to go whether he liked it or not. He breathed deeply, immersing his senses on the sweet aroma of the girl, and closed his eyes. _'There's still time.' _He told himself.

If an outsider saw them, he might think they had fallen asleep, but he would be wrong. Even though their eyes were closed they were very much awake; they were just too engrossed in the moment to notice forty minutes pass.

Naruto was the first one to open his eyes. They fell on the clock placed on his wall. It was 11:42.

"Shoot!" Naruto cursed under his breath, snapping Hinata out of her trance and startling her enough to make her get away from him.

"W-What?" she asked confusedly, Naruto's arm still around her.

"I'm supposed to meet him in less than twenty minutes." The blond said apologetically.

"Oh…" Hinata was disappointed that their moment had ended so soon but at the same time she felt guilty that Naruto was going to be late because of her. "I better g-go, then."

As much as he would like to stay with her he still needed to pack. "I'll walk you out." They untangled themselves and directed for the door.

"The others are gonna hate my guts for leaving without saying goodbye." Naruto chuckled longingly.

"T-They won't hate you."

"They won't love me either."

Naruto opened the door for her and she stood looking at him, trying to form a smile. "P-Please, be careful."

"He might be a pervert but he's still a sennin. I couldn't be safer." The blond assured, smiling back at her. Hinata nodded and, sighing shakily, tossed herself at his chest, wrapping her own arms around his waist.

"I-I'm going to miss you." She confessed breathlessly. Naruto seized her back and returned the hug.

"Me too." The whiskered chuunin said; a content smile on his face. "But I'll be back before you know it, right?"

Hinata nodded forcefully against his chest, but wouldn't let go.

"Hey." The blond called, placing his hands on her shoulders and making her back away. With watery eyes, the girl raised her face inquiringly. Naruto inched closer to her and pecked her lightly on the cheek.

"You owed me that from the hospital." The blond said sheepishly. His blush was minimum compared to the one Hinata was exposing. "Now we're even."

She gaped at Naruto with eyes the size of the moon, a hand gently placing itself on her cheek.

"C'ya around, Hin." The blond said endearingly. "Thanks for everything."

Hinata didn't register as the door closed on her. It took her two full minutes to realize that she was already outside Naruto's apartment.

* * *

"Good grief, Hinata-sama! What happened to you?" Neji hurried to her as soon as she went through the entrance door. "I thought you would arrive an hour ago! I was just on my way to go looking for you!"

By now the full effect of Naruto's goodbye kiss had receded and the hard truth had fallen on her like a brick.

"Neji-niisan…" she started, voice cracking as she spoke. The long haired Hyuuga raised a concerned eyebrow and walked closer to her.

"What's the matter?" The male Hyuuga asked with alarm. He was taken aback when the heiress wrapped her arms around his neck and started to cry her eyes out on him. He had never heard his cousin cry like this and, no matter how much he urged her to tell him what had happened, she couldn't articulate one word.

Naruto was gone and she wouldn't see him again for a long, long time.

* * *

"What took you so long?" Jiraiya demanded angrily. "Did that girl keep you busy?"

The thirteen year old boy gasped for breath. "Shut up." Naruto breathed heavily, Jiraiya's gift hanging from his shoulders.

"So rude." The white haired man said reprovingly. "I should teach you some manners first. Maybe you will finally learn to respect your elders."

"I doubt it." The whiskered chuunin said, finally recovering his breath and standing up straight.

Jiraiya smirked.

"Let's go, then." He said, walking through the open gate that led to the forest. "Did you have fun today?"

"I did, until I read your letter." The blond answered. "You ruined a perfectly good day."

"You'll get over it." The sennin said nonchalantly. "How's the arm?"

"Healing. It won't be long until I can fight again."

"Good."

"Why so soon?" Naruto inquired, walking to catch up with him.

"A spy was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning to keep an eye on you. We needed to make our move before that."

"Huh… Thanks for the gift, by the way."

"Don't mention it." Jiraiya said amiably, placing a hand on Naruto's head. "Say, do you have some leftover cake with you?"

The golden-haired ninja rolled his eyes as he took out what was left of his birthday cake. Jiraiya grinned at him as he ate it.

"Nice jacket." The older man said through a mouthful of chocolate.

"Thanks." Naruto said, feeling a smile spread across his face.

* * *

**Author's section**

**Thanks to everyone that has supported this story along the way. It was a real blast to write!**

**I will be uploading the continuation under another story, so please stay alert, 'cause I don't know when that'll be. **

**Once everyone has grown, I'll start with an arc of my own invention, so don't expect the story to follow too closely the actual manga/anime. **

**Take care, all of you, and don't forget to review!**

** - Patty**


End file.
